A Young Soul's Journey
by DaMnNerd
Summary: This story begins with Hotaru, a vertically challenged young soul whose dream is to become a Shinigami, unfortunately she faces many challenges and hardships that makes her distant, unwilling to form connections. But what happens when a certain white haired captain comes along? OC X Tōshirō RATED: T
1. Prologue - District 79 Kusajishi

**Okay so here with another story, again. And another bleach story! I'll try to keep this short but I'll just say I've been working on this slowly for months and have had to rewrite it numerous times as I refined the idea. The pairing in this story is with Tōshirō Hitsugaya but he won't pop up for some time and the whole romance thing will likely take forever because I mean, I want to be realistic with this (you don't fall for people instantly after all, especially not Hitsugaya.)**

 **This story will eventually connect with the main storyline so in the beginning it's around 151-150 years prior (around 1850-1851) to the actual start of Bleach. (For those who don't know Rukia and Hisana arrived in the soul society approximately 150 years ago in 1851 whilst my OC arrived in 1850)**

 **Inspirations: Daisy by banshee-hime (this was the original inspiration for this fic, a Hitsugaya fic and it's amazing!)  
Curtain Call by SurreptitiousFox245 (Their writing style is incredible and the story is fantastic, another Hitsugaya one!)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach or its characters, only my OC's**

 **Enjoy~**

 **Prologue: District 79 – Kusajishi**

* * *

I remember the first time I woke up in this place; I was in a cold, dark alleyway. I didn't know my name, my age, my appearance, I didn't know where I was or how I got there. I was nothing but a blank canvas, like an empty shell. I knew I was a child when I managed to sit up and look down at my small, dirty hands. All I knew was that I was hungry and in a strange place, and that I wanted to go home. Only problem was I didn't know where _home_ was.

I got to my feet and trudged forward, my small legs wobbling violently. I felt like I was buzzing with energy but at the same time I felt so tired and weak, I needed food. I needed shelter. Placing my hand against a wall I used it for support as I finally made it out of the dark alley, my eyes wandered the surrounding street, what I saw caused me to stumble back in shock and fear.

The street was littered with dead bodies. Most of them rotting away.

Peering around the corner again I watched from the alley as other people I hadn't noticed before wandered the streets, some wounded, others perfectly fine. They all ignored the dead bodies like it was a regular occurrence. The sound of cries caught my attention as I looked to the left down the other end of the street, down that end I saw multiple people fighting and yelling. Fists, blades, blood.

This place was a nightmare.

That was just the very beginning for me, little did I know that I was in district 79- Kusajishi North Rukongai. One of the worst possible districts to be in. I also learnt later on that I was a soul and that there was no point trying to remember who I was when I was alive.

I learnt all this from someone very important to me, probably the only decent soul I'd met so far in this godforsaken place. His name was Hirokazu however I just called him Kazu, he gave me food and a shelter and he became like a brother to me, which was all I needed even if it would have been nice to have been sent to a better district. I had spent some time in the district before we met and I was practically a starved pack of bones by then, slowly dying in the very same alleyway I appeared in before Hirokazu found me and offered food I hadn't tasted for days. He carried me back to a small hut, made of sticks, wood and rags. It was located a little ways away from the major streets of the district on a small grassy hill and was more of a tent to be perfectly honest, but it soon became home, the both of them shared a 'bed' which was merely another rag they found as a blanket and two pillows they put together from stuffing grass into more tattered scraps of cloth and tying it up. They had a small campfire with small rocks surrounding it that they lit when cooking any food they managed to steal, the food they stole was often placed in a box in the corner of their small home for storage.

"Okay so today I managed to steal some bread and a fish, it's not much and the bread is a little stale and the fish…..I have no idea if it's okay but we'll find out?" Hirokazu said with a laugh as he tore the bread in half and handed one to me.

I smiled gratefully "Thanks…" I muttered as I nibbled on the bread, across from me Kazu swallowed the bread whole causing me to scoff.

"You eat like a pig." I deadpanned making him twitch in annoyance as he glared at me.

Hirokazu was a tall male at least to me, him being roughly 5"8 foot already and in appearance looked around 15 to 16 years old. He had shaggy dark brown hair with reddish brown eyes and more often than not had a grin on his face when I was around. Out in the street if you grinned like that people would take that as a sign to fight you.

You know how some people joke that certain places are a 'no smiling zone'? well this was the place. Unfortunately it wasn't much of a joke considering if you laugh, smile or are just happy at all you're literally dead within seconds, because you're either seen as an annoyance, a disturbance or just an easy target. Simple as that.

Hirokazu ruffled my hair, breaking me from my thoughts I looked up to him in question as he pointed to the window of our small shack, we both shuffled over to it and peered through the small window- well it wasn't much of a window as it didn't have any glass, it was more of a hole in the cloth than anything.

Peering through it I saw outside there was a potential fight brewing- again. The brawls were far more than just daily and would always end in death. As cruel as it was, to Kazu and me that was a good thing. The more of them dead meant less danger for us and it meant we could steal from the corpses. They very rarely had food on them, when they did it was like we struck gold, but for the most part we stole any clothes or weapons they had. The clothes would've only been rags which we could either wear or use to strengthen the 'walls' of our home. It didn't do too well on rainy days that much was for sure.

The two of us watched as the fight progressed, the men cutting each other down mercilessly. Blood sprouting from their bodies like a waterfall and creating pools of red below them. In the past Kazu used to cover my eyes and ears so I couldn't see the violence but eventually gave up, the screams and yells, the ripping of fabric and clashing of swords, the blood and corpses, it was all an everyday occurrence for me and I couldn't care less what happened to those men. If anything I had become a little sadistic overtime as I had to hold back a laugh when some of the men fighting slipped on the pools of blood surrounding them which resulted in them getting impaled, other times I got irritated with how long the fight would go for and just wanted them to get decapitated or stabbed to death so we could grab their stuff.

"Now Hotaru, a young girl like you shouldn't be having such thoughts!" Kazu said from beside me causing my eyebrow to raise in question.

Kazu grinned "You get this creepy look in your eye when you watch fights, I'd personally like to call it bloodlust but you don't know till you join the fight~" he mused.

Yes, my name was Hotaru as Hirokazu had named me. Neither of us had a last name and were both trying to figure one out and had yet to come up with one we both liked. (it was a common argument between us.)

I scoffed in response "Joining the fight would mean instant death. You've seen those guys! They're _huge_."

It was Kazu's turn to quirk a brow as he leant back casually "It doesn't sound like you're scared of them."

I shook my head and watched the fight progress, which was thankfully coming to the end with only three men remaining in the brawl "Nah, when I said they were huge I didn't say it out of fear. I just meant logically I couldn't kill them because I don't have any skill and I'm too weak."

Kazu looked at me contemplatively "We could change that."

Now turning my gaze to Kazu my eyes narrowed "What do you mean?"

Waving a hand dismissively he grinned cheekily "You don't need skill to fight after all, _'You've seen those guys'"_ he quoted before continuing "And I can get you strong in no time! 500 push ups right here right now!" he ordered, pointing to an empty spot on the floor.

I looked at him blankly before sighing and standing up "They're all dead. Let's go." I jerked my thumb to the outside area, Kazu looked at me for a moment before glancing outside to see that in the brawl the last two ended up killing each other. He nodded to me and we both lifted up our 'door' which was just a large rag covering the entrance, running down the small hill we both ran into the empty street and checked the area before nodding to each other and began searching the bodies.

Six bodies, all men. They recovered all the rags they wore as they both needed to repair their home after a particularly strong rainfall, they also had to barricade it from the cold that was fast approaching. The only downside of this is that the rags were practically already soaked in blood by this point but there was nothing they could do about that aside from soak it in the river. After ripping a rag off a now mutilated body I paused as I stared down at the sword in his hand it was a beautiful katana that shone, at least to me. In reality it was soaked in blood and was battered and chipped in a few areas but it could be sharpened and repaired in no time. I grinned and grabbed the handle, some excitement washed over me as I always wanted a sword even though Kazu would probably throw a fit because of it.

Needless to say, Kazu did end up throwing a fit when they got back home lecturing me saying I only looked to be about eleven years old and shouldn't hold such a 'dangerous and sharp object' to which I scoffed at. Eventually he gave up because it was district 79 after all.

It was nightfall now and after attempting to clean the blade with a rag and sharpen it with a rock I lay down and held it up horizontally, staring at it in excitement. I saw a dull reflection of myself in the blade; grey eyes stared back at me and black hair down to my upper back with various strands hanging in my face showed in the dull reflection.

"You've certainly taken a liking to that thing." Kazu muttered as he sat beside me, I shot him a grin as I sat up and turned to him, I placed the blade in my lap.

"Isn't it beautiful?" I whispered as I stroked the blade, it unfortunately didn't come with a scabbard but I didn't care.

Kazu sighed, placing his hands behind his head as he flopped down onto their makeshift pillow "I worry about you sometimes."

By now, most people would have been scared of me, or _should_ have been. The only reason they weren't was generally because they were basically insane themselves (aka most of the people residing in district 79) but Kazu was different, he wasn't insane or even mentally unstable as far as I could tell. Sometimes it was surprising that he stuck by me, that saying he worried about me was actually somewhat of a joke because he didn't care whether I liked killing people or not. He didn't care if I laughed when people died or got frustrated when they didn't. All he cared about was that we were both alive and well- as well as we could be at least.

It was a strange world I lived in that was for sure.

* * *

 **Pretty darn short but what do ya think? I'm personally quite liking this story~ It's somewhat of an updated writing style for me and I don't normally write in first P.O.V. Admittedly when editing this I continuously had to edit out 'she' because I do it from habit switching from I to she randomly (which is irritating).**

 **I would like to say I did some research on what happens to souls after they die and there wasn't much of an official answer I could find but presumably they (if not killed by a Quincy) are reincarnated into the world of the living (like a never ending cycle basically.) In this fanfiction I have made it that the bodies do not disappear for at least 8-10 days. (Here is perhaps a not so great fact here which I recently discovered, maggots can consume up to 60% of the human body in under seven days)**

 **Yes, I have done research on a lot of things. Especially the timelines and I am far beyond exhausted by this point. (Having already written the prologue, chapters 1, 2 and 3 before even uploading anything, already having done a timeline from the year 1851 (151 years prior) to 2001 (beginning of Bleach.) AND OC information on Hotaru which is extensive, basic info on all the other Oc's, I've already drawn the 3 main characters, written a basic plot too.) So no, the words exhausted and proud would be understatements.**

 **Anyways nothing much more to say except the usual,**

 **As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	2. Chapter 1 - The new addition

**Okay here it is! I'll keep the authors notes nice and short when I can (unlike with my other stories) however unlike most fanfics I've read I'll put any descriptions up the top here. (Normally it's at the bottom.)**

 **Kanabō:** A spiked or studded two handed war club that are constructed out of heavy wood, or made entirely from iron.

 **Reiryoku (Spiritual power/energy):** is the amount of energy a being has stored within their body or soul, generally those with high level Reiryoku have high levels of Reiatsu as well.

 **Reiatsu (Spiritual pressure):** Reiatsu is the pressure that a person's Reiryoku exerts. In other words, Reiryoku is potential while Reiatsu is energy in use and can be sensed by other spiritually aware beings.

 **^ The Kanabō info I got from Wikipedia whilst I got the Reiryoku and Reiatsu information on the Reiatsu bleach wiki in case anyone's curious.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my OC's!**

 **Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 1: The new addition**

* * *

I grumbled to myself as I hacked at one of the trees with my newly acquired blade, in truth it was a bit big for my smaller body but it was swift and light to me (At least compared to some weapons I had stolen from other dead people like axes or even the occasional Kanabō which was heavy as hell.)

Over the past few weeks Kazu had me doing various things like running to build stamina and strength in the legs, push ups, pull ups, sit ups, any exercise he knew of and could get me to do to improve my physical strength. Along with getting me to practice with my sword, whether it be swinging down or slashing at a tree repeatedly which I was doing now. He often joined in on the physical exercises after I got the hang of them and actually did them properly. Kazu had said he intended for me to do all this each day when I had the time (When we weren't stealing food or robbing corpses.) there wasn't much else we could do with our time anyway, there was no such thing as hobbies and fun in this district. It was all about survival, however one may call this training a hobby or fun but it was still a way of survival depending on how you look at it. I knew that when they came across a decent blade on one of the corpses Kazu would train too and spar with me as well, however finding a decent blade on a corpse is a rare find believe it or not. Most people who wielded swords around here had a higher chance of survival, or the blades they found were shattered during the battle or just plain worthless. (Or had already been stolen from the corpse by the victor or another scavenger- a lot of 'ors' I know.)

Huffing I collapsed onto the grass and stared up at the sky that was now covered with dark looming clouds. The downsides of training meant I grew hungrier from using up my energy and soon Kazu would too which meant they'd need more food, on the upside they would possibly have more strength, skill and speed to steal food. I couldn't help but wonder what would happen when we could no longer find any food, what if it all disappeared? Would we resort to eating the corpses? Probably. The thought disgusted me but if it was for survival I was…willing…so to speak.

"Oi you done day dreaming over there?" Hirokazu called from somewhere behind me, craning my neck back I saw Kazu upside down with a blade in his hand, shooting up I ran to him with a grin.

"You already found a blade?" I replied in surprise.

A look of irritation came across his face "Only took weeks…" he muttered before continuing "Yea I was out in the woods trying to find stuff like food and came across a guy's corpse."

I nodded in understanding "Did he have anything good on him?"

Kazu hummed in contemplation "Not really- well, he did have a tattered kimono on and some food-"

Slapping Kazu's arm I pouted at him "What do you mean _'Not really'_ that's awesome! Did he have shoes?" I asked in mild excitement, shoes was almost like a foreign object in district 79 and as she had heard the many districts surrounding their own.

He shook his head in response "Nah, no shoes. I would give the kimono to you but…"

I sighed "I'm too small aren't I?"

Kazu sweatdropped and let out a nervous laugh "Well…it's just that he's a grown male and you're…. _vertically challenged_ so to speak."

That was his light way of calling me a child and incredibly short, even for my perceived age I was short. And being called short was one thing I did not appreciate in the slightest, the last time Kazu made a crack at my height I tried to pull his hair out. I also hated being called a child, I may look only eleven (or even younger because of my height) but Kazu and I both figured I was probably almost 32 by now, so I was anything _but_ a child.

"Well why aren't you wearing it right now?" I questioned, ignoring his earlier statement.

He shrugged "I didn't want you to start yelling at me as to why I get to wear a kimono and you don't, it'd be too much of a bother so I thought I'd come and explain first."

Nodding in response the two of us ended up walking back to the house where he changed into a tattered plain, dark brown kimono that reached just above his knees with a black obi fastened around his waist. Circling around once he stretched his arms out and grinned at me.

"Sooo, whatcha think?"

I rolled my eyes "You look gorgeous." I said sarcastically causing him to deflate as I sharpened my sword with a rock, we both fell into silence as the rock grating against the blade rung throughout their small home.

Kazu sighed from beside their food storage box "We're running out of food, we'll have to stock up in the next day or so…"

I hummed in agreement "It shouldn't be too hard to find some food around here somewhere, I'd say we probably need to start breaking into people's homes again to get food."

Hirokazu shot me a glance "No. that's too risky, getting arrogant won't help- just because you've been training doesn't mean-"

Growling I turned around sharply and chucked the rock at him in annoyance, to which he caught effortlessly "I'm _not_ being arrogant! There's literally _no_ markets because of all the crime! You know our district doesn't abide to the law, there's no order. No exchanging of money, money literally means squat when people just kill and steal all the time! Do you honestly believe other people from this district will _offer_ us food? No, they won't. We _have_ to steal it and their homes are where they keep it." I argued.

Kazu remained silent for a few moments, contemplating my words before sighing in defeat "You're right…but just remember the time we both almost got caught? I don't want that to happen again. We have to be more careful this time, if we're lucky we can find someone who isn't home or happened to be killed out in a brawl and left food in their makeshift homes."

I nodded in agreement "Sounds good to me, when should we head out?"

"I think we should just train together for today, I'd say it's best we go tomorrow in the earlier hours of the day." He responded.

I grinned and held up my sword "Alright, for now let's see who's the better fighter." My words causing a gleam to appear in Hirokazu's eyes as they both set off for the woods once more.

* * *

Tying the cloth up in a knot to somewhat form something resembling a bag I nodded to Kazu who held his sword tightly as we ran out of our hut, it had been raining the previous night so the grass and mud stuck to our feet as we ran toward the main streets, slowing down we cautiously walked through the streets primarily using back alleys and peeking inside houses with most being occupied by sleeping people. Hirokazu and I had both agreed earlier that we wouldn't enter any home if it wasn't vacant, after all we could end up sneaking in and find no food and risk being attacked for nothing.

After repeating this process for a few minutes, passing various homes made similarly to our own (mostly better as taller and older people had made them) we finally came across a vacant home. I grinned and rushed in whilst Kazu hissed a warning to me as he entered cautiously, this home unlike others actually had a table and some boxes. Opening the boxes one by one I found they were mostly empty except for one box that was half filled with food.

My eyes gleamed as I stared at the food, it would last us weeks! There was bread, chicken, fish and candy! It all smelled decently fresh too! My head snapped to Kazu in an instant as I motioned ecstatically to the box.

Kazu walked over with a raised brow and peered in before looking in shock, his eyes soon narrowed "If its fresh….then someone still lives here." I stiffened at that before we both heard a whimper, we both turned to the bed in the corner where the whimper came from, exchanging glances we approached cautiously. Kazu pointed his sword forward "Make it easier on yourself and come out now." He growled. The response we earned was another whimper.

I tilted my head in confusion before crouching down, Kazu instantly gripped my shoulder and shook his head, I rolled my eyes in response "Do you really think any _grown man_ in district _79_ would be _whimpering_ under a bed?" I said rhetorically before once again lowering myself to the floor and peering under the bed.

My eyes widened in surprise as I saw a girl probably older than myself huddled under the bed, she had long straight white hair (or an extremely light blonde) with white eyelashes, red eyes, and incredibly pale skin. Her appearance was a shock but there was no doubt in my mind that she was an innocent girl with the amount of fear that showed in her eyes.

"Hey you can come out, if you aren't planning to attack us we won't attack you." I urged as I sat back cross legged on the floor.

Kazu looked at me questioningly "It's just a girl Kazu, you can put the sword down." After a few moments he obliged and sighed. Minutes later the girl crawled out cautiously and stared at the two of us I grinned at her and jerked my thumb to my chest.

"The name's Hotaru. Over there is Hirokazu, pleasure to meet ya." I said

The girl nodded meekly "M-my names Rika F-Fukuhara…"

After a moments silence I looked to my brother "Hey Kazu can we keep her?"

He looked at me incredulously "She's not a pet!" I whined in response as the girl looked at us in surprise.

"C-could I stay with you two? I don't really possess much Reiryoku so I don't need to eat…" The girl, Rika mumbled.

I looked at her in confusion "Huh? What's Reiryoku? You gotta eat! You must be hungry by now!" I insisted.

The girl shook her head, I was about to insist more before Kazu interrupted me in alarm "Then what's all this food doing here?!"

Rika flinched "Ah… I lived with another male, he let me live as long as I got him food…he recently got killed…" she trailed off.

I looked to Kazu expectantly "Can we keep her now?"

Kazu sighed heavily "Sure. Whatever, I don't even care anymore…" he grumbled as he walked over toward the box.

I went over to help Kazu and motioned for Rika to follow, slowly going through a backdoor that she showed us we snuck out of the main streets thankfully without incident (surprisingly) and made it back to our hut. Kazu placed the box down with a heavy sigh before I looked around almost exasperatedly.

"We're gonna have to either steal more from that house or make another bed ourselves because we don't have a sleeping space for her." I pointed out, Kazu groaned and flopped onto the bed.

"You figure it out. You're the one who wanted to keep her so much." Kazu grumbled making me chuckle.

Rika began to fret "Oh- I don't need to s-stay if it's too much trouble…" I rolled my eyes in response and bonked her on the head with a grin.

"Does it look like I care? Making a new bed will be easy I can even teach ya!" Rika looked at me thankfully as I rummaged through a pile of rags and found two non-blood soaked ones and stuffed one full of decently dry grass. Placing the pillow and blanket next to my side of the bed I motioned for her to sit as I sat on my own side.

"So, what was that Reiryoku stuff you talked about? How come you don't need to eat? What district are you from? You can't be from district 79 originally if you're this scared of stuff. How old are you? Where are-MMPH!" I cried out in shock, the cry being muffled by Kazu's hand as he finally sat up from his side of the bed, I knew he was glaring at the back of my head as I continued to struggle.

"For god's sake _shut up._ " He ground out as I whined slightly before biting his hand, retracting quickly with a slight yelp I felt mild satisfaction that was short lived as he retaliated by whacking me upside the head earning a yelp from me.

Rika coughed slightly gaining our attention "Uhm Reiryoku is spiritual power, I'm sure you've heard of Shinigami right…?" she trailed off.

I blinked "They're those people with the swords and black clothes right?"

"The official soldiers around here who don't bother with our districts because we're seen as nothing but animals." Hirokazu affirmed.

Rika nodded "Uh yea…well, Shinigami possess higher levels of Reiryoku and Reiatsu which means they're more powerful than the average soul if they learn how to control it. The downside is that they have to eat, souls actually don't require food normally. So you two must have higher levels of Reiryoku than average."

I nodded "Oh that makes sense! Kind of…"

Kazu nodded as well "So what district are you from then?"

Rika twiddled her thumbs shyly at that "District 25…."

Kazu and I both looked at her in mild shock, they both expected another district anywhere between 55 to 78 but _25?_ Kazu's eyes narrowed "What would someone from the 25th district be doing _here_ of all places?" I hummed in agreement.

Rika looked down, her hair shadowing her eyes as her lip visibly trembled "Men from the outer districts…they stormed the 25th district and I…I ran. They killed so many people…including the family I had…..I had to keep fleeing and somehow I ended up in this place…" she trailed off.

I inclined my head sombrely "Sorry for your losses but hey we can be a family now okay?" at this Rika nodded gratefully and Kazu sighed.

"Well her last name is Fukuhara so I guess that's our last name now." Kazu concluded.

I groaned "Agh _finally_ we've been stuck on a last name for _years._ " Flopping back onto the blanket with a contented sigh. Hotaru Fukuhara, I liked the sound of that.

Rika tilted her head in question "You two didn't have a last name?"

Kazu shrugged "We were both strangers in life, neither of us remember our lives previous to this obviously and I gave myself my name and gave Hotaru her name when I found her in an alleyway. We've been arguing on a last name for years."

I hummed contemplatively "Wow, it's been years since we first met…. _at least_ over two decades."

Rika looked to me in surprise "But you look to be seven or eight years old!"

I shot up like a bullet in anger "I'M THIRTY-TWO DAMMIT!" I shook my fist at her as Kazu sweatdropped.

"Well… _approximately._ " He muttered, Rika looked even more confused as Kazu elaborated "When she came here we estimated she was around six years old roughly, we obviously age very slowly though and when I found her she could've been around seven? But the problem is even though it's been around twenty-six years since we met it's difficult to judge her age due to her being… _vertically_ challenged. So we aren't sure if she is actually thirty-two but we've left it at that, we both agreed she looks eleven though."

At this Rika let out a small "Oh" before smiling "Well, I'm about thirty-four years old even though I look like I'm only fourteen. I was actually born here though."

After calming down I began to question Rika and her knowledge, she told me all she knew about Shinigami, the soul society, its laws (that obviously didn't apply to them.), the Shinigami academy, what Reishi and Reiatsu was, Hollows, what a zanpakutō was and about the Gotei 13, captains, lieutenants, squads you name it. She was like an object filled to the brim with knowledge that I had never heard of. A whole new world was opening up to me, a civilisation, a structure, it was in summary: mind blowing.

I stayed up later that night, lying in bed after my very first food coma in some time after the delicious chicken Kazu and I cooked. Kazu was fast asleep beside me, I faced Rika who was also wide awake and I begged her to tell me more things about the Seireitei or just the better districts, how things ran, what they did, what the academy was like and what a zanpakutō was in further detail and how she knew all this. Of course her knowledge had its limits but she learnt all of it from her brother who had become a Shinigami, Rika reminisced about her childish excitement learning all of these things for herself the first time.

After what felt like hours of talking I stared at the cloth ceiling in awe "Wow….."I whispered in wonder. I knew deep down that there were things in this world like order and laws but coming from a district that abides to no laws, constantly has people killing each other and stealing among so many other crimes it was near impossible to imagine a world without that. However Rika painted a new picture in my mind.

I felt my eyelids begin to droop before turning to Rika once more I mumbled sleepily "Do you think…I'd be able to become a Shinigami?"

Rika looked at me hesitantly "It'd be a long journey to get there in the first place…and you might be turned down but if you possess a large amount of Reiatsu it should be fine….I'm sure you and Kazu could both get in but being a Shinigami…it's pretty dangerous-" she paused at my blank look before laughing quietly.

"Right. District 79…nothing new…" she mumbled before looking to me with a smile. "I bet you could do it, I've only known you for less than a day but you and Kazu seem like fighters to me. As long as you're prepared to work hard and even kill…." She trailed off.

I looked at her dubiously "God you really _are_ from district 25." She looked at me in shock as I gave her an almost pitying look.

"Here in district 79 there is no order or mercy. It's about survival, kill or be killed. Here to survive you have to steal and even kill people. Laws don't really apply to us, death and brawls happen every day, corpses litter the streets, the clashes of swords and men screaming in pain is a daily occurrence and even women screaming in the alleyways probably being raped and killed isn't uncommon. I've done my fair share of stealing and even killing people to survive, I've trained for weeks now and I have a sword too, so does Kazu. I think we're more than capable to join the academy." I explained.

Rika looked at me in shock and even a little fear "I- I didn't know it was that bad….you a-aren't going to kill me are you?"

My blank stare returned in an instant, I looked at her like she was an idiot "I don't kill innocent and defenceless people you dolt."

"O-oh…that's good." She replied nervously as I rolled my eyes in response before turning and facing a snoring Kazu whose mouth was wide open, I smiled at my brother fondly. He may have been the older one but the amount of times I wanted to stroke his hair or even comfort him was sometimes overwhelming. Sure I was often cold hearted and even a little sadistic but I still cared for my family even if it wasn't biological.

I smiled slightly; in future I knew that I wanted to be a Shinigami. I wanted to join the Gotei 13 and fight to protect; I wanted to be that hero people looked up to, to have Kazu and Rika by my side would be all I could ever ask for.

With that thought I finally drifted off to sleep.

* * *

 **Okay first chapter done! Anyone that wants an approximate timeline I can list it in one of the authors notes at the bottom (Of course I would shorten it considerably and even edit out a few things to prevent spoilers but just the basics to get an idea if anyone is interested.)**

 **As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	3. Chapter 2 - Times of change

**Woo chapter twooo~ OH IMPORTANT: about 112 years have now past since she first arrived in the soul society. Her age is approximately 108, Kazu is approx. 114 and Rika is 110 with the year being around 1952. (Last chapter it was about 1876)  
All descriptions will remain up the top as usual,**

 **Obi: People should know this but** _ **just**_ **in case, it's a sash worn round the waist of a Japanese kimono.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, only my OC's**

 **Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 2 – Times of Change**

* * *

I stood atop the hill overlooking district 79, in recent years the crime had somewhat lessened. No, death was still happening but not every day like normal, it appeared that the more bloodthirsty ones killed each other off making the district a tad more quiet- but still crime ridden.

It had been many decades since I first arrived here and it had been years since I met Kazu and Rika. Surprisingly I had grown a tad, sure I only looked a few years older because of my height, however my hair had grown from my upper back to my hips with a long strand reaching just past my nose that hung between my eyes and other strands of varying lengths sweeping to the left side naturally. I was probably around 108 by now but time was a tricky thing as a soul. I had to keep insisting to Rika that if my boobs merely got bigger I was sure I'd look far older.

Speaking of Rika, she hadn't changed except for having much bigger boobs, growing taller and having hair to her thighs however nowadays she tied it up in a high ponytail having it reach her hip area with bangs framing her face and multiple strands of different lengths hanging in her face. She never bothered to cut it, I had suggested the both of us cut our hair but she ended up whining all day that she liked long hair and adored my long hair so I relented.

Hirokazu looked pretty much the same except for his hair, it was still shaggy as ever and was now longer from being at the nape of his neck to just above his shoulder, he did get taller and more muscular unfortunately making me feel like a gnome half the time but that couldn't be helped for someone vertically challenged. That's right _vertically challenged, NOT_ short.

I still had the dream to become a Shinigami and since the day I decided it I trained my body as much as possible, Rika tried to teach me how to control my Reiatsu with what little knowledge she had on the matter needless to say it didn't go as well as she hoped but I had grasped an understanding of it however we both decided it was best I learn all that at the academy.

By now I was _more_ than ready to leave this dump, normally one would be attached to their homes and sure I liked my hut but as long as I had my family with me I couldn't care less where I was. In the years that had past I had learnt more and more about this world and the world of the living, Rika ended up teaching me how to read and write (although finding anything to read or write with was _incredibly_ difficult and even took weeks just to get started.) Of course Kazu learnt all this as well however he wasn't as enthused as I was about becoming a Shinigami, in truth he'd only do it because he had nothing better to do and had admitted to both Rika and I that he probably wasn't going to end up going to the academy at all. Rika and I both believed he should go and put his Reiryoku to use but he had the better argument of keeping Rika company who would be left alone if we both left. He had no true passion to become a Shinigami like me.

"Hotaru! We're ready to go!" Rika called as she waved from the entrance of their home, nodding I walked back inside to find three backpacks with our makeshift beds rolled up and tied to the backpacks. I grinned, over the years we managed to find three backpacks at different points, normally from corpses in the woods. Probably travellers, all that mattered was that they were ours now. Not only that but the three of us managed to get new clothes from corpses, I wore a light grey kimono that reached above my knees with a dark blue obi. Kazu wore a kimono almost identical to his previous dark brown one only it was a lighter shade of brown and not so tattered. Rika had a light blue kimono with a faded purple obi. Of course none of us managed to find shoes in all the years we had been here, still a foreign object in this district obviously.

I grabbed my katana which I had managed to find a sheathe for in the previous year and strapped it to my back, ( _Not_ because I was _vertically_ challenged, because I _chose_ to.) wielding the blade had become easier for me even if it was still a bit big it had become somewhat second nature after training with it every day, I was initially disappointed to not have called out a zanpakutō yet as it had been years but Rika merely said that it takes quite some time to imprint my soul into the blade and likely even longer when it's a stolen blade. The thought irritated me but regardless at this point I didn't need a zanpakutō spirit to lend me power, I had my own power which I was quite content with.

Grabbing my backpack I slung it over my shoulders, my katana digging slightly into my back which was mildly uncomfortable, I took one last look at the hut which was now basically vacant before walking out last. In front of me Rika stood with a hand on her hip and a grin, over the decades she had become confident, cheerful, encouraging and supportive. We both decided upon being 'twins' as neither felt older nor younger, she stood with her backpack slung across her shoulders and no weapon. In the past Kazu taught her hand to hand combat and she proved to be incredibly fast and flexible despite not possessing much Reiryoku in the first place. Yet she refused to wield a weapon as she wasn't much of a fighter despite her surprisingly strong personality (compared to her meek one when we first met.)

Kazu on the other hand stood proudly and confidently, he was as impatient and blunt as ever. But he was also just as protective and caring as ever, his sword was strapped to his hip as he also managed to find a sheathe, as well as his own backpack.

I grinned as we walked off together, walking through the streets one last time. Thankfully no one approached us or threatened us. It would've only been because Kazu and I had swords and also killed many of the people who tried to kill us in recent years, walking across a somewhat unstable wooden bridge I glanced into the river with a smile. I remembered the time Rika had told Kazu and I we'd be training yet in fact she just wanted to play in the water on one of the more humid days in a more secluded area of the river, of course I had learnt the basics of how to swim that day and incorporated it into my routine occasionally much to Rika's annoyance as she wanted it to be 'fun time' for them. Initially Kazu refused to go into the water until Rika yanked him in, which resulted in him chasing us around and splashing us with water.

Pulling back from the memory I looked at the road ahead in excitement "Shin'ō academy, here we come!" I cried determinedly as we paraded on.

* * *

"UGH are we _there_ yet?" I questioned for the hundredth time that day.

Hirokazu's eyebrow twitched violently in annoyance "For the _last_ time. We've only reached district _62._ Now please, S _hut. Up._ " He ground out as he marched forward, his steps oddly comical as they conveyed his annoyance.

I snorted, intertwining my hands behind my head and looking up at the sky "Sure…sure….Hey Rika are you sure we're-"

" _Yes._ We are definitely in district 62, North Rukongai and _yes_ we _are_ going in the right direction." Rika said exasperatedly. Before shooting me a side long glance.

"You're not normally _this i_ mpatient." She remarked

I looked at her blankly like she was an idiot even though she was most definitely smarter than me "Isn't it obvious? I want to get to the Shin'ō academy asap! I want to become a Shinigami!" I said determinedly.

Rika shared a dubious glance with Kazu "You must've blocked out the part about the entrance exam and having to spend 6 years at the academy before even becoming a Shinigami…." She muttered

I scoffed "I'll pass that entrance exam with flying colours! I'll speed through those 6 years like its nothing!"

"Oddly optimistic…" Rika commented in mild surprise.

"I think you mean _annoyingly_ optimistic." Kazu grumbled, my mouth twitched upwards as I danced in front of Kazu with a gleam in my eye.

"Kazu you're starting to sound like an old man these days with all that grumbling!" I joked to which he glared. I turned away from him for a mere second before being whacked on the head swiftly.

Crouching down I held my head with a wince as tears came to my eyes "Owwwww" I whined as Kazu shook his fist at me.

"Old?! I don't even have wrinkles! You goddamn shortie!" He growled, I stiffened and stood up slowly my hair covering my eyes.

Rika walked past the both of us as we stood in silence, she sighed heavily "here we go…" she muttered as she continued to walk on as the two began to hurl insults at each other like no tomorrow.

"Yea well….you're fat!" I shouted, pointing at him in an almost accusing manner.

Kazu laughed "Fat? It's _called_ muscle. You're just jealous because I've actually got strength."

I shook my fist at him "Oh I'll show you _strength_." I shot back, the two of us began to tear at each other's hair eventually rolling about in the dirt, kicking and punching before Rika walked back and pulled us apart she whacked us both on the head.

"You're _both_ acting like children and complete idiots! Man up. Now do we want to get to the academy or not?" Rika huffed as she turned away, Kazu and I immediately quietened down as getting Rika angry or even irritated wasn't easy to do and she was very scary when she was angry. Funnily enough even though they could retaliate if need be her glare frightened them enough, the two stayed mostly quiet all the way from district 62 to 57 which was quite a long way, normally it would take more than a few days to get from district 79 to district 57 however they managed it in three surprisingly as they walked for almost a full 24 hours with minimal stops to at least get out of the more barbaric districts, they managed to go for a few more hours before stopping at a hotel on their way to district 57. After resting and eating they marched off again to district 57 to restock.

Eventually getting to district 10 in fourteen days and district 1 in two more days they stopped in the middle of the street and surveyed the area.

"We might be wearing poorer looking clothes but at least we managed to get shoes during our travelling." Rika noted, holding her hand up to block out the blazing sun.

I looked around in awe, each district as we went along managed to amaze me even more. The houses were built from proper materials, from wood, metal and cement. Some of the homes were even _painted!_ The people surrounding them were dressed well in more rich colours unlike their faded and tattered kimonos. The path itself was mostly a dirt road with the main road being lined with long strips of pavement, it shocked her to see such civil people as always. People were chatting idly in the streets, kids running by and playing, some kids crouched in a group with spinner tops and various stalls open with the owners greeting people kindly.

"Wow…district 1 is so….civilised?" it sounded almost like a question as I looked around uncertainly, Rika just laughed.

"They're the most law abiding and civilised of all the districts if that's what you're going for." She confirmed.

Kazu rubbed the back of his neck "Perhaps we should find a place to bunker down for the night rather than going straight to that academy place."

Rika and I both nodded in agreement before I looked around and squinted, a hand blocking out the sun as my eyes darted around "I don't see an academy anywhere?"

At this Rika chuckled as they entered an Inn, Kazu arranged the rooms whilst Rika stood by my side with a small smile "The academy is actually located _inside_ the Seireitei." At this I felt a light bulb turn on as I looked at Rika whilst she just rolled her eyes as we followed Kazu to our new room.

Grinning once again I watched from the door as Rika and Kazu argued over the beds with her kicking him off and causing him to yelp somewhat like a girl. I sighed quietly, once I join the academy…these two won't be joining me. The thought on its own was saddening, I had spent my entire lifetime so far with Kazu and a majority of it with Rika as well. We were a family, we spent pretty much every hour together, whether it was messing around, eating together, training, stealing food among other items, killing people, learning the basics of reading and writing and so many other experiences over the decades. I knew I would still be able to see them but it would be far less frequent than usual, not only that but after it I would become a Shinigami and see them less and less. The thought frightened me but admittedly I felt better knowing they were residing in district 1 a very safe district compared to 79.

The story of the Fukuhara family may not end when I go to the academy but that doesn't make the heart wrenching feeling of being separated from them any easier. I would be alone and have to start all over again, I was far better at killing people than I was making friends, and last I checked killing others was not a steadfast way to make friends or begin conversation. Heck even saying I was from district 79 was a terrible idea, they'd all end up avoiding me!

Dear lord am I, Hotaru Fukuhara, a soul from district 79 that has stolen more things than I could count, a soul that has killed numerous men that would have all been intimidating to anyone else, and a soul that laughs at the fights to the death and spilling of blood, feeling nervous and even a bit terrified about going to the academy and fretting about _making friends?_ Who knew that'd be more terrifying than death to me. The concept was amusing but still terrifying nonetheless.

There were thousands of questions spinning in my head but the main one being:

' _How do I get into the Seireitei in the first place?'_

* * *

 **Alright Chapter 2 done and dusted! Hope you all liked it (Yes the chapters are kinda short and each of them are varying lengths when I normally keep a consistent amount going) but oh well.**

 **As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	4. Chapter 3 - A new beginning

**Alright third chapter! And it's much longer than the previous ones much to my delight. Without further ado here are the descriptions:  
** **Academy Uniform:  
** **Shitagi –** Under shirt (Red for females, Blue for males)  
 **Kosode –** Shirt (Which is white with red/blue stripes and a black circular symbol on both breasts)  
 **Hakama –** Trousers (Red or blue)  
 **Other:** **  
Asauchi –** They are nameless Zanpakutō, and are used as a base by which Shinigami develop their own Zanpakutō.

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach only the OC's**  
 **Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 3 – A new beginning**

* * *

To think that all they had to do was approach the gates, state their intentions of having me take the entrance exams, say my farewells for now and be led by another officer to the academy was a shock. I honestly expected more resistance but apparently, they were open for anyone to join as long as they had potential.

I looked to the officer curiously "So…when do I start the entrance exams…?"

"In an hour." He answered curtly.

I blinked in surprise "Don't multiple people have to take the exam at a time?"

The officer sighed slightly "Yes, we gather a large group and run the entrance exam in one of the larger halls of the academy. Your friend confirmed we would be holding the next entrance exams today."

I nodded in response, holding back the slight twinge of annoyance that bubbled in my chest. The officer was so exasperated and curt it bothered me, however it was likely justified from having to deal with a multitude of newbies. Not only that but he called Rika my _friend_ not correcting him on that was difficult as well. I knew it was Rika because she left the inn the previous day for a small amount of time needing to 'check on something'. I smiled at that, Rika really didn't need to go out of her way yet she did, she and Kazu always did as did I when it came to their goals, dreams or wellbeing.

"Wait here. I'll register you as another participant; afterward I'll lead you directly to the hall as it's in less than an hour now." The officer commanded.

Shoving the urge to roll my eyes down I merely nodded and leant against the wall in slight boredom, Rika warned that the entrance exam wouldn't be entirely easy for someone like me however all the learning I did over the years such as learning to read and write properly, learning about the soul society in general and even a few Shinigami techniques although I hardly remembered them and Rika couldn't offer much information as her brother from the past didn't tell her a whole lot in detail.

"Alright, the entrance exam hall is this way." The officer's voice caught my attention as I continued to follow him down the corridor; eventually we stopped at a large door which he pushed open. I felt my stomach drop at the sheer size of the room and all the people inside, each conversing animatedly with many appearing to be good friends.

Guess who's the odd one out? You guessed it. I was most likely the last one to arrive, I wore a not so great looking kimono and my hair was probably a mess. Why I was stressing over this at all? I'd never know, one part of my brain told me to man up and that this was nothing compared to district 79 whilst the other side told me to stress, to fret and cower at all the pairs of eyes staring me down. In conclusion I had some very conflicting opinions and emotions floating around my brain as I followed the officer down the steps and passing rows upon rows of desks with exam papers already on them, we walked to the front desk where a large man with a shiny bald head, thick black eyebrows and a stern face loomed down at me as the officer gestured to me.

"She's the last one."

The bald man grumbled "Finally. Take your seat over there." He pointed to a random seat in the middle row up a few steps from the front, as I took my seat he called for everyone else to do the same with everyone quietening down in the next minute.

"My name is Gengorō Ōnabara and I am the chief instructor for class 1 for first year students. For today I will be overseeing these entrance exams. In front of you, you will see the exam already there. You may begin now." The bald man boomed from the front of the room.

Grabbing the writing utensil I brought the paper forward and flipped to the next page, scanning the contents I sweatdropped.

' _Crap…I'm totally gonna fail this…'_

* * *

"You passed." Rika stated in surprise as she read the paper in front of her.

"I WHAT?!" I shrieked

"SHE WHAT?!" Kazu shouted in disbelief.

I shook my fist at the both of them "Its fine for me to doubt myself but knowing that the two of you doubted me _doesn't_ help!" They both laughed awkwardly as Rika turned her attention back to the paper.

"In the written test you did poorly in the Kidō area and subcategories Hadō and Bakudō, no surprise there…You did incredibly well with the basic knowledge section on Shinigami's, hollows and the common laws. You also scored highly on motives." Rika announced

"Motives?" Kazu questioned

"There was a section of the written test where I had to state what was important to me, my purpose for wanting to become a Shinigami etc." I elaborated to which he nodded in response.

Rika coughed to get our attention before continuing as she read from the paper "Hotaru scored very high on the more physical tests- aside from Kidō of course. Level of Reiatsu was above average level, Zanjutsu skills were exceptional, same with Hakuda and Hohō was so-so."

I beamed as I fist pumped in the air "YES! Shin'ō academy better be ready for me!"

Hirokazu sighed as he leant back on the floor his legs crossed "y'know you are far too excited about this…."

I shot him a sharp glance "Don't sound like you have no idea why! I'm a fighter! I get to kill things and protect people~ I get to be a hero!"

At this Kazu's eyes softened and a small smile came onto his face, as did Rika who cleared her throat "Unfortunately it isn't all about killing but I'm sure there's a particular division geared toward it, although I wouldn't recommend it….." she trailed off uncertainly

"Back to the present here, when do you start? Rika said you'll be living in a dormitory at the academy." Kazu stated.

I gave Kazu a shrug and we both turned to Rika expectantly who sweatdropped "I don't know everything you guys…" she mumbled in annoyance before looking down at the paper once more "hmm it says here you start tomorrow, arrive in the early morning with your things. Your dorm number should be listed on a board in the main courtyard and a uniform will be provided. Once belongings are placed in the dorm you may head back to the courtyard for a recommended but optional tour of the building and its facilities. The next day go to the main courtyard and stand in line for the welcoming ceremony. Classes will be revealed and will begin shortly after the ceremony."

I groaned and fell back into Kazu's lap who shot me a glare, I stared up at him with a pout "It sounds like too much effort….and nerve wracking too." I admitted

Kazu quirked a brow at me "You're nervous about people? We're from district 79 doesn't that mean anything? And what happened to your earlier gusto about being a hero?"

Covering my face in my hands I rolled back and forth on his lap in agitation "AGH EXACTLY! Being from district 79 people will think I'm a barbaric animal but because I'm from that district I shouldn't care what other people think but a part of me does because I know I'm way better at killing people than I am making friends and staying civil-" a hand over my mouth stopped my movements and blabbering.

"Breathe." Kazu ordered as he took his hand away before I could bite it, taking in a few big gulps of air I let out a heavy sigh.

Rika sat down and crossed her legs in front of Kazu and I, turning my head to the right I looked to her for reassurance to which she just laughed "You aren't normally this anxious Hotaru! Then again you've mostly only ever had to fight people rather than talk to people…"

"But she talks to us just fine? So what's the problem with a couple of other kids?" Kazu questioned making me huff.

"You guys are different…" I mumbled, it was times like these when I felt like the youngest sibling, depending on my two other siblings to reassure me even though this situation compared to everything else we had experience was rather trivial.

Rika ruffled my hair with a grin "It's not all that easy making new friends is it Kazu? Have _you_ tried doing that?"

Hirokazu blushed slightly and looked away "W-well I…I don't need to make friends!"

Rika and I chuckled at that, it didn't really solve the issue but there wasn't much anyone could do. All they could try to do was support me and let me know they were there, better yet distract me from the situation itself so the nauseous feeling and stomach somersaults would lessen. I still didn't understand what the feeling was, it wasn't quite fear, it was more than nerves- had I ever felt nervous before? Did nerves make you want to throw up all of your organs?

"You're just anxious Hotaru." Kazu murmured softly as if reading my mind he stroked my hair softly, normally I'd slap his hand away but at this point it was one of the greatest comforts I could have asked for.

* * *

The academy entrance was a lot more nerve wracking than yesterday, it was an uncomfortable feeling that didn't fit my personality. Ordinarily I would've been confident, waltzing in like nobody's business but now? It was all I could do to refrain from hightailing it out of there.

' _Just fake it, that's what kids do these days.'_ Kazu's oddly assuring words came to mind, biting my lip I held my head high and strode forward. I clenched my fists so nobody could see my hands trembling, I walked through the courtyard that had numerous newcomers chatting idly. Some held multiple packs of luggage by them and wore beautifully designed kimonos (whilst all I had was a backpack and a tattered plain kimono). Others had already changed into the Shin'ō academy uniform which consisted of red for the females and blue for the males, for me it would be a red shitagi, a white kosode with red stripes, red hakama with white socks and sandals.

I felt a bead of sweat roll down my temple as I made my way toward a large board no one could miss, various people crowded around it searching for their name. I searched up and down for my own name.

 _Dorm no. 33 – Hotaru Fukuhara, Rukia._

Rukia? I'd take a guess and say she was from an outer district considering no last name was listed. Walking inside the female dormitories that were shown on a map beside the dorm numbers I walked through the corridors of each floor till I found number 33. I couldn't help but wonder if they placed the clan kids and nobles together and the ones from Rukongai's father districts together.

I stood in front of a door labelled 33, each of the doors were western style surprisingly, I looked at it uncertainly for a few moments before knocking. I heard a high pitched 'come in' from the other side before opening it and peeking in. The room itself was rather plain with a large closet to the left, a full length mirror, to the right of the mirror was a large window and in the centre of the room were two pillows and a low square table most likely for eating or studying. To the right of the room were two basic single beds with white sheets and a wooden headboard. To me the room was amazing, it had real pillows and real bed sheets!

Opening the door fully I walked in nervously and shut the door behind me and gave a small wave "Uh…I'm Hotaru Fukuhara. Pleasure to meet you!"

"Oh, you must be my new dorm mate, I'm Rukia!" The girl said with a smile, Rukia had purple eyes and black hair with several strands hanging between her eyes, she wore the academy uniform and was petite and short however unfortunately…still taller than myself.

"Say…how tall are you?" I questioned bluntly

Rukia looked at me in surprise before answering "Around 4'8 and a ½…"

' _I knew it.'_ I thought as I felt my mood drop instantly. I was only 4'2….

Rukia laughed nervously "I didn't mean to upset you…ah your uniform is on your bed, I heard the tours are going to start soon so you better hurry!"

Banishing the thoughts of height from my mind I placed my backpack by my bed which was by the large window, I grabbed the uniform and quickly changed into it as Rukia looked away. Strapping my blade to my back I walked over to the mirror and stood proudly.

"You were already given a zanpakutō?" Rukia exclaimed incredulously, if not a little enviously.

I looked to her in confusion "So you get given them here?" I questioned to which she nodded, I then shrugged "Nah, I got it off some guy decades ago." We both turned to the door and made our way down the corridor chatting idly.

"So what district are you from?" I questioned, at this Rukia looked down nervously for a moment.

"I'm from district 78 Inuzuri in South Rukongai." She answered

I grinned before pointing to myself "I win~ I'm from district 79 Kusajishi, North Rukongai."

At this Rukia gave a sigh of relief "I was afraid you were from one of the better districts…"

I looked at her blankly "You think someone from a better district would be wearing a faded and tattered kimono?"

"You were wearing sandals." She shot back.

My grin widened "Touché, but to answer that I got them during my time travelling to the academy."

Rukia nodded in response as the two continued to talk on their way to the courtyard which was now filled almost completely with various uneven rows of red and blue. I looked around nervously, I was grateful to have Rukia by my side and it was good to know I wasn't the only one from one of the more 'barbaric' districts as many people referred to them as (or low-class, whatever's your cup of tea really.)

"Rukia!" I turned to see a tall male with a shock of red spiky hair tied back in a ponytail approaching with a large grin on his face and waving in a wide arc as he stopped in front of us.

"Hey Renji! Are you all ready for the tour?" Rukia gave her friend a smile as a look of distaste came across Renji's face.

He rubbed the back of his neck in exasperation "I don't _need_ a tour! I can very well find everything on my own."

Rukia's eyebrow twitched "Would you rather take a tour like everyone else or get lost and end up embarrassing yourself?"

At this Renji looked away "Well I…fine." Rukia nodded in approval before gesturing to me.

"This is my dorm mate Hotaru Fukuhara, she's from district 79 in north Rukongai."

Renji turned to me with a large smile that almost looked threatening at least to me, his height was intimidating enough. He nodded to me.

"Renji Abarai, district 78 south Rukongai."

"Tours will be starting shortly, please go to your assigned group number before we proceed!" Came a booming voice from the front, catching most people's attention as they all began to separate into formed groups.

I looked around quizzically "Uh…tour number?" I looked to Rukia and Renji, Renji shrugged.

Rukia nodded "I was told dorm mates tour numbers should be the same. Mine's five."

Sighing in relief we walked off toward the fifth group shortly joined by Renji who was also in group five, soon enough the tours started and I looked around in awe at the gargantuan rooms, the exceptional architecture, the wide courtyards and study areas as well as the classrooms and all the practice areas for Zanjutsu, Hakuda, Hohō and Kidō. All the while I spoke with Rukia and Renji however it was mostly the two conversing- well, more like arguing over the most simple of things but it wasn't like I didn't do that with Kazu.

My gaze softened as I stared out one of the windows we past, Kazu and Rika…..I couldn't help but wonder what they were doing right now? I'd be able to see them on my days off but compared to before I'd barely get to see them…

"That concludes our tour for today. Tomorrow the welcoming ceremony will commence and your classes will be revealed. Classes also start tomorrow." The tour instructor said.

A male raised his hand in question "Sir, when will be getting our own asauchi? I heard we practice with wooden swords first."

The instructor nodded "You will receive them after deemed appropriate, for the first few months unless a field trip is arranged the swords will remain wooden."

The male student looked to me sharply "Then why does _she_ have a weapon!"

Said instructor glanced to me before back to the male student "She's a…special case. However I request Miss Fukuhara that for the majority of your time here that you keep your weapon in your dorm or we shall have to confiscate it."

I resisted the urge to glare, sure it made sense but I _always_ kept my blade with me I even frickin slept with the thing. Sure, most kids have teddy bears or some other toy, I had my katana. Yes my reasoning was somewhat childish, I was like a child clinging to a toy I didn't want to get taken from me but to be fair it was an actual _weapon_ that could be used unlike a _stuffed toy_. I heaved a sigh before nodding as everyone was left to hang in their dormitories, make friends, study or just wander the academy.

I decided to stick with Rukia and Renji for the remainder of the day as we wandered through the various facilities once again familiarising ourselves with the campus before hanging out in the courtyard, soon enough the sun had begun to set and Rukia and I left Renji and walked back to our dorm.

I kicked the door open with a grin, I sighed in content "Ahh what a day~" I flopped onto the bed face first and snuggled into the covers whilst Rukia chuckled and shut the door behind her. She too flopped onto her bed beside mine except face up, her eyes practically sparkled in determination.

"Tomorrow we officially start classes and we'll grow stronger. Soon enough we'll become Shinigami…" she whispered.

Moving my head to face her I smirked "You can bet your ass I'll get stronger! I'll be the strongest in this academy and be the first to become a Shinigami!"

Rukia glanced at me, mirroring my smirk "So you wanna bet do you?" determination shone in her eyes.

I sat up and held out my hand "I, Hotaru Fukuhara bet that I'll be the first to become a Shinigami out of all the first years!"

Rukia shook my hand "And I, Rukia bet that I'll become a Shinigami before you."

We both ended up laughing at this before I looked to her curiously "What happens if one of us loses?"

Rukia and I contemplated this for some time, we weren't able to come up with anything that night, from when we made the bet, when we went to the bathhouse to wash ourselves, to when we got back to the dorms and changed into sleepwear right to the very next day when Rukia shook me awake frantically saying we were late, resulting in us hurriedly changing into our uniform and running out the doors before Rukia realised Renji wasn't in the building making us run back out to look for him before finding him sleeping in a tree.

Rukia chucked a rock at him causing Renji to fall out of the tree and hit the ground harshly, he sat up angrily and glared at Rukia "HEY! What's the big idea?!"

"You idiot! The welcoming ceremony is about to start!" She shouted to him, at this Renji shot up and the three of us ran back to the hall where the ceremony would be held with Rukia and Renji arguing the whole way.

All of us were panting by the time we got back to the hall and took our seats just as one of the head instructors began his speech.

"Welcome new students to Shin'ō Academy, you're now part of a proud tradition. A unique school dedicated to building the stealth forces and the thirteen court guard squads of the future. Apply yourselves diligently to your studies and uphold the honour of our school-" The man at the front continued for what could've only been minutes but felt like hours.

' _At this rate I'll be 150….maybe I would've grown taller by then…'_ I mused as Renji was practically snoring beside me before Rukia elbowed him in the side, Renji would've yelped out loudly if I hadn't placed a hand over his mouth. We did get some stares from those around us but otherwise mostly didn't attract too much attention (thankfully).

"I will now list the classes, starting with class 1, the advanced class." The instructor's voice now caught my attention as he _finally_ moved on from that goddamn speech about education and upholding the academy's reputation etc.

"Hotaru Fukuhara-" I blinked in surprise as Renji whacked me on the back in congratulations whilst Rukia gave me an encouraging grin.

"Renji Abarai-" It was my turn to whack Renji on the back in excitement as I practically waited for him to call Rukia next, but they never did. I was ready to storm up to them and demand she be in the first class with me and Renji- for selfish reasons obviously. She was in class two much to my disappointment; she too was disappointed that her two friends were both in a different class and the _advanced_ class. How I got there in the first place was something I'd never know.

"Alright, you're all dismissed. Go to your assigned classes immediately as they will begin soon." The instructor called before walking off as all the students got up from their seats and walked into the classroom corridors, Renji and I bid farewell to Rukia who looked somewhat upset at being in class two.

Walking in with Renji I sat next to him as more students slowly filed in I turned to him uncertainly "Rukia will be okay right? It didn't seem like she was too happy being in a different class…."

Renji sighed as he rested his chin on his hand "There isn't much we can do about it. Hell, I wouldn't be happy either if I was in her shoes."

Before I could say anymore their chief instructor walked in, a very familiar man I had almost forgotten about.

"For those who don't remember I am Gengorō Ōnabara, I was the one overseeing the entrance exam. Your test scores were among the highest out of everyone else, in other words welcome to the advanced class. Congratulations, of course this means that the expectations are higher for you as well. You all must train and study hard, and strive to not just merely serve your future squad but to excel in each of your various pursuits." He lectured.

"Now, let us begin. Today we will be focusing on theory, in a moment I will hand out a timetable with the times and classes that will be held. In the beginning a large portion is theory and demonstration before an equal amount of prac is introduced into the curriculum."

For the most part that day, I actually listened to the instructor. Sure, his explanations did get boring _especially_ when he got to the Kidō part or even briefly focusing on Zanjutsu as the fighting style appeared far too proper from what I was used to. Today he was covering brief explanations then choosing one topic to explain in detail which would probably be happening over the course of the week, presumably he would go into detail with the four basic Shinigami fighting techniques which consisted of Zanjutsu – sword fighting, Hakuda – unarmed fighting, Hohō – moving techniques and Kidō - advanced spells which put together was apparently Zankensoki. I presumed we would focus in detail on one each day with the fifth day being an introduction to prac perhaps?

Regardless of what he was going to teach, whether it was theory or prac I was ready for whatever they threw at me because I was going to become a Shinigami no matter what.

* * *

 **Okie dokie that's it! What did everyone think~? Much longer than previous chapters (And a somewhat regular length for some other stories I've written)**

 **If I missed any major descriptions please let me know and as a side note to anyone who might have forgotten I obviously didn't put Rukia's name as Kuchiki because she hadn't been adopted by them yet.  
Technically on the wiki page Rukia was adopted by the Kuchiki family two months after joining the academy but in the anime it's around 6 months and I liked the latter better so I went with that.**

 **As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	5. Chapter 4 - Difficulties

**Everything below used to be in chapter 3, it is a short chapter I apologise for that.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, only the OC's  
Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 4 – Difficulties**

* * *

"Ugh, I can't do this…." I grumbled into my pillow

Rukia sat at the small table drinking some tea as she studied "It's not that bad."

I sat up and glared at her "I've never had this much education! Sure my sister taught me the basics of reading and writing but _this?_ It's so hard!" I cried and fell back onto the pillow.

It had now been five months since I first joined the academy, in the beginning their instructor focused on the four major Shinigami combat forms, then after _extensive_ detail on it and notes, they also learnt (and had to take notes) on Shinigami laws and the consequences of breaking those laws, they learnt the history of the soul society, they learnt about the structure of the Gotei 13, the Kidō corps and the Onmitsukidō, they also had classes that other regular schools provided and being in the advanced class I was expected to know certain words and what they mean or how to say them like I was some kind of privileged noble or clan kid! Of course they actually only really got into the prac about a month ago and had been practicing in each area, a class or two a day. Of course in terms of theory and 'basic' education as they called it, all that they were learning was apparently only scratching the surface! No wonder they needed six goddamn years! They hadn't even learnt properly about hollows or that thing….that takes souls to the soul society what was it again?

"Hey what was that thing that takes souls to the soul society?" I asked Rukia as I stared at the ceiling in concentration.

Rukia looked at me blankly "You mean a Konsō?"

I jumped up and grinned "Yea that's it!" she continued to look at me exasperatedly before turning back to her book. Admittedly Rukia was a lot smarter than I was, she kind of reminded me of Rika in that sense, decently talented at sparring but excelled when they had to use their brain. I often had to have Rukia help me with my studies whether it was forcing me to revise for a test or look over my notes and mainly helping me with reading and writing (let alone _understanding_ the words.) Despite her being from an outer district like me she picked up on written work and the general education quite quickly which irritated me.

"Are you going to visit your siblings tomorrow?" Rukia questioned out of the blue, I sat crossed legged on my bed now and thought for a few moments. I had forgotten it was Friday and tomorrow would be a day off, in the beginning I always visited Kazu and Rika however as things got busier over the months I tended to see them less as I had to study continuously (I may have been in the advanced class but to me that was just a fluke, of course I believed it was probably mainly for the prac side, motive and basic knowledge.) I often fell behind and struggled to keep up with writing all the notes, I had to jot them down so fast I didn't even register them and had to go over them later, soak up the information, understand this and that. Exhausting would be an understatement in this case, because of all that I hadn't seen my siblings in at least three weeks, the thought made we wince. They would _not_ be happy about that.

I then nodded "Probably, I actually managed to catch up with everything the previous night and today was mostly prac so it should be fine."

She smiled before turning back to her textbook 'Advanced History of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads' I felt my eyebrow twitch as I shuffled over to the other side of the table and glowered at the book till Rukia looked at me in question.

"How are you _already_ reading the advanced history textbook? Me being in the _advanced_ class don't even use that thing till our third year!" I cried

Rukia laughed "I don't need it for class, like you I won't need it for a while but I was just interested in the Quincy wars."

I looked at her blankly for a few moments "So….what's a Quincy again?"

She let out a tired sigh before shutting her book "You need to pay more attention during class; the advanced class should be focusing on races in the history and anthropology class by now."

I looked away sheepishly "Uh…well yea I guess….it's hard to pay attention with my instructor droning on like a robot! Do you know how sleepy it makes me!?"

I received a hard whack on the head from Rukia as she hit me with the textbook, I felt tears start to form at the brim of my eyes as I clutched my head, it already felt bruised.

"That's no excuse for not listening!" Rukia scolded

"Y-yes ma'am…" I said obediently.

Rukia sighed, her hands on her hips before jerking her thumb to the door "Wanna get some fresh air? I've had enough of studying today. Knowing Renji he's probably doing nothing so we could go bother him." She ended with a grin, a gleam in her eye that she always got whenever it came to Renji, mostly because she wanted to bother him or distract him. God knows they'd probably argue good naturedly the entire time.

I grinned "Sounds good to me."

* * *

"Where the FUCK HAVE YOU BEEN?!" Rkia practically yelled as she whacked me repeatedly with a pillow whilst Kazu just lazed by the window with a small grin.

"You're gonna destroy the pillow soon-" I was interrupted as she whacked me in the face again, breathing heavily she finally stopped and calmed down a bit, she stepped back to allow me to actually enter the house properly. I think I forgot to mention that in the five months I had been at the academy they had both managed to get jobs and a house rather than staying at the inn, to me it was _huge_ but to anyone else it was probably small or just average. It was a single floor home with traditional doors and flooring, a low table to the left with four cushions around it. There were two other smaller rooms, one for bathing and the other a toilet. In the corner of the main room was somewhat of a kitchenette made from wood and to the right were three Japanese bed rolls and a lamp or two placed near them.

I gave my siblings a lopsided smile "Sorry that it's been a while, I promise I'll come by more frequently! And I've got lots to tell you!"

At this Rika dropped the pillow, clearly her interest was piqued. The three of us sat at the table with some tea and rice dumplings, I knew full well Rika still enjoyed learning new things and she may have been filled with knowledge compared to any regular soul but being in the academy taught me far more than she ever could. I ended up explaining everything I had learnt and the new friends I made as well as the experiences I had with them. Eventually I handed my book filled with notes to Rika and she soon became engrossed with them, completely zoning us out as I talked to Kazu about my new friends.

"-By that point Rukia and I just ended up pushing Renji into the lake we were so irritated with him teasing us, especially the cracks he made at our heights! During that Izuru was of course by a tree reading and staying out of the line of fire." I finished with a laugh as Hirokazu smirked.

He leant his arms on the table casually "Seems like you've learnt a lot already, and what did I tell you? Making friends isn't that hard. I'm sure you're eager to hear how Rika and I have been holding up without you?" The last part was mostly a joke as he jabbed Rika who looked up in confusion. Soon enough the two began to explain the argument they had with the one owning the inn, getting their new house and how they got their jobs as well as the fight Kazu got into with another male when he drank too much.

"Needless to say we both ended up having to pay for the damages." Rika stated in mild irritation as I sweatdropped.

Chuckling I leant back casually "It's good to hear you two have been doing well…" I trailed off, for a soul three weeks isn't really a long time however to me in this case it was like an eternity not seeing my family. I definitely missed them and worried about them a lot even though they weren't far away and most definitely doing well in district one (better than expected at least). Selfishly I often wished they could join me at the academy, I wanted to spar with them and learn with them. Rika would no doubt be great at history and the general education part, she would've been able to help me easily whilst Kazu would have excelled in Zanjutsu and Hakuda he would make a great sparring partner. However it would only last six years which also wasn't a very long time in soul standards. And I knew for a fact I didn't want either of them to be Shinigami, another selfish wish, I wanted them at the academy for company but I never wanted them to become Shinigami as I would fear they'd be killed in battle. Of course I wouldn't doubt their skills but even the strongest soldier can fall in battle, they would be far safer in the first district remaining civilians because of course no Hollow could enter the soul society…..

Could they?

* * *

 **That's that. I'm doing a fair chunk of editing on this story and as eager as I am to write more busy times are ahead. I also plan to mostly edit but slightly rewrite one of my most popular fanfics (Another Bleach one named 'Change Is Inevitable') I started it quite some time ago and it's in dire need of editing.**

 **Thank you for taking the time to read this, until next time!**

 **As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	6. Chapter 5 - A test of courage

**Alright so new chapter, I hope you all enjoy this one as I was excited to write it!**

 **Answers to reviews are at the bottom!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach only my OC's**

 **Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 5 – A test of courage**

* * *

I sighed in content as I strapped my sword to my back, it felt so good to have it there again. Of course most nights I still had it by my side but for the most part I wasn't allowed to have it with me around the campus. Initially I felt naked walking through the halls of the academy, like a part of me was missing however I eventually grew used to it. Didn't mean I liked it at all, regardless I grinned cheekily as I grabbed my lunch from the small dorm table that was wrapped in a neat cloth. To say I was excited to be going to the world of the living was an _understatement_ I was thrilled! I knew Rika would be so jealous. Walking out of my dorm room I made it to the classroom halls, walking through I looked to my right to see Renji, Izuru, Rukia and a large group of guys further down.

Quirking a brow I walked toward them just as Renji and the others turned away from an irritated Rukia, shooting a glance at Renji I walked past him as he turned to look at me "Oi Hotaru don't be long, we're meeting on the roof in five." I nodded in return as I stopped in front of a fuming Rukia.

After a few moments she shot me a defeated glance "It isn't fair that you guys get to go to the world of the living!"

I held back the urge to sigh, I felt bad for Rukia. I would've felt left out and stupid if I had Renji rubbing it in my face all the time. Walking forward I placed a hand on her shoulder making Rukia pause in her fuming to look at me, I smiled kindly at her "You may not get to go to the world of the living right now but in the future, for sure. Not only that but use this time to train so you can kick both mine and Renji's butts later on." I said with a wink before turning away with a wave.

"And don't forget, we still have a bet going on! If you're too busy twiddling your thumbs I'll beat you!" I called as I walked away, I didn't even need to turn around to know she was probably back to fuming again- I only hoped she felt better and more motivated to work harder because I knew, I knew someday she would become an exceptional Shinigami. Both Renji and Rukia would, as for me? I felt it was unlikely but I'd take what I could get.

Turning around the corner I saw a range of first year students from my class filing up the stairs to the roof, today we'd be going to the world of the living to practice our skills on 'dummy hollows' in terms of Zanjutsu I was pretty darn confident. Over the course of six months I was able to successfully use Kidō but to say I was any good at it would be laughable, Momo a fellow classmate I had spoken to occasionally and Izuru were far better than I could ever be but I didn't care. I enjoyed cutting things down far better than spells and incantations, on the other end I still did well in Hakuda but as always, I preferred a sword in my hand. I guess out of the four techniques I was best with Zanjutsu and Hohō. I brought myself out of my thoughts as I reached the roof, opening the door I found a large crowd of students talking amongst themselves with no apparent officer or leader in sight. Shrugging to myself I looked around for someone with a shock of red hair- not that hard to find in all honesty.

I grinned as I spotted Renji's spiked hair and Izuru's blonde hair in the crowd, pushing through I called out to them as they turned around. Izuru sent me a smile whilst Renji waved with a large grin.

"About time you got here! What took you so long?" Renji questioned

I shrugged "Stuff."

At this Izuru quirked a brow "Stuff? That's rather vague."

Renji nudged Izuru and whispered in his ear "Did you know she believes in the saying 'Children who sleep well, grow well'?" he snickered.

My eyebrow twitched before I punched Renji in the gut with a huff "For your information I was talking to Rukia! And when would I even have _time_ to nap? I didn't even take that long!" I growled, shaking my fist at him.

Renji clutched his stomach with a chuckle "You didn't deny it…"

Before I could throttle him I heard a call for attention at the front, everyone in the crowd turned to three people in academy uniforms standing before them. I would've assumed _actual_ Shinigami would lead them to the world of the living but they were just academy students?

"First allow me to introduce myself, I'm Shūhei Hisagi, sixth year student." He introduced, the man had dark grey eyes, black hair down to his neck at the back with strands at his chin in the front with the number '69' tattooed on his left cheek.

Next to him was a short girl with brown hair, some tied up in a small hairclip with relatively dark eyes "I'm Kanisawa" She introduced with a slight nod of her head.

On the other side of Shūhei was a tall man with short black hair and a long thin face with small eyes. He saluted us "I'm Aoga."

Whispers broke out through the group whilst Renji looked to Izuru blankly "What's all the fuss? Why's everyone gawking, are they famous or something?"

I looked to Izuru questioningly as well, I wasn't particularly sure myself why everyone was so surprised.

Izuru looked at the both of us in mild shock "How can you both _not_ know! That guy in the middle, Shūhei Hisagi, they say he's been assigned a post in the thirteen court guard squads even before he graduates. That almost never happens, apparently he's even in line to become a ranked officer."

I blinked and glanced back at the guy in the middle "Huh. So I guess that guys kind of a big shot around here then." _'Better not be an arrogant dick or I'll be as stubborn as a mule when he barks out orders.'_ I mused as Izuru's face turned smug, drawing my attention to him.

"And, strangely enough he failed the academy's entrance exams twice and given that my exam score was the highest in our class…I might be better than him." He said with a smirk.

I rolled my eyes "We get it Izuru you're smart. No need to rub it in…" I grumbled.

Renji quirked a brow at me "Sure you aren't _that_ smart but I'm sure being in the advanced class means something right?"

I shot him a blank look "You know, these days I can never tell if you're trying to comfort me or if you're just mocking me."

Izuru hummed in agreement "I think it's a bit of both." Renji spluttered but before he could form a sentence Kanisawa continued.

"Alright listen up, we'll be splitting up into groups of three before we leave. In your classes earlier today you drew lots, take them out and find the two students who have the same marks as you have."

"Oh so that's what these pieces of paper were for." Renji remarked. I looked to Renji and Izuru excitedly before I scowled.

"It seems like Hotaru doesn't have the same mark as us." Izuru exclaimed, looking from mine to his.

Renji looked around in confusion "So then who…?"

"Uhm excuse me!" A girl called out, we all turned to face Momo who approached nervously "I'm your third."

"Oh it's you, hey Momo." Renji said as Izuru welcomed her with a smile.

And now, I felt what Rukia felt to some extent. Grumbling to myself I turned away to look for my own two teammates, looking to my right I saw two males approaching.

One male tall male with pale skin who had short black hair and dark eyes sent me a kind smile "Hello, my names Seigo Ohara it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm one of your teammates for this exercise."

I nodded to him and looked to his left where a slightly tanned and muscular male stood, he had short brown spiked hair with dark green eyes and a cheeky grin he gave me a wink "And _I'm_ the one and only Kenta Igarashi!"

I grinned in return and pointed to myself "The names Hotaru Fukuhara, pleasure to make your acquaintance."

They both nodded as we turned back to the front to pay attention to the rest of the explanation. "Now that everyone's found their groups we will brief you on today's exercise, as you are probably already aware we will be your guides for this expedition into the world of the living." Shūhei explained.

"An advanced party of six year students have already gone to the world of the living and constructed a temporary barrier." Kanisawa continued.

"Once inside that perimeter, each group will engage in practice combat with dummy hollows." Aoga added.

"The sixth year students are only there to guide you and provide a combat ready environment for you, they will _not_ assist in the combat itself. Are we clear?" Shūhei finished.

"Yes sir!" they all responded.

At this Shūhei nodded "Alright then, let's go." Behind him a senkaimon opened up and he turned to enter it, they all followed soon after.

"So what are you guys good at?" I questioned.

Kenta grinned "oh y'know, killing stuff." I smirked at this, he was obviously more of a sword fighter than anything.

Seigo sighed at Kenta's response "I'm more of a Kidō user but I'm just as well with any of the other categories."

Kenta rolled his eyes with a scoff "Show off."

Chuckling I entered the senkaimon into the world of the living, I felt light flash all around me and then in an instant I felt a cold breeze rush past. As I walked through I landed on concrete ground and looked around, they were in some kind of factory area near a harbour presumably, the full moon was high in the sky and the slight breeze ruffled my hair as every student arrived in the world of the living, I felt Kenta stand to my right whilst Seigo to my left as we awaited orders.

The three sixth year students stood at the front once more "All of you are to fan out and stay alert for dummy hollows. Utilise all your previous training in this exercise where necessary. Now go!" Shūhei ordered.

I nodded to my two teammates as we jumped on top of one of the many tall buildings, Kenta and I both looked to Seigo who looked confused before sighing heavily.

"I don't know _everything_ you guys!" at this I rolled my eyes whilst Kenta scoffed in disbelief, crossing his arms.

Shaking my head I cleared my throat "Considering we haven't yet learnt how to properly sense a hollows presence I guess we should just head in a particular direction as a unit and scout for dummy hollows."

Seigo and Kenta nodded, Kenta pointed east "Let's go that way for a start, I get to attack the hollow first!" he declared determinedly.

"Why you- hey!" I took after Kenta as he took off to the east, Seigo running along beside me with an exasperated look on his face.

"Forgive Kenta , he just can't help himself."

I nodded with a grin "He's pretty energetic I'll say that much. You two friends?" I questioned as we ran to catch up, jumping on multiple rooftops.

Seigo smiled wistfully "Yea we grew up together, we grew up as brothers in the Rukon district and decided to go to the academy together."

I sent him a smile before turning to face ahead "That sounds nice…" before either of us could say anymore we heard a cry of delight.

"BOOYAH HOLLOW DETECTED!" Kenta cried from nearby, I let out a groan before stopping at the next rooftop to see a hollow coming my way as Kenta only managed to slash its side- completely missing the mask.

"Hadō number thirty-one: Shakkahō red flame cannon!" Seigo called out from beside me, I watched as the spell enveloped the dummy hollow before it emerged through the smoke again charging straight at them.

Gritting my teeth I grabbed the hilt of my blade and ran toward it, jumping up I unsheathed my sword and swung down, slashing straight through the mask. I landed back on the rooftop and sheathed my sword with a grin, watching as the hollow disappeared.

I looked to Kenta smugly "I would say I get the credit for that~"

Kenta shook his fist at me "Yea well without me you wouldn't have been able to do anything!"

Seigo chuckled lightly "Guys, guys, it was a team effort."

"Whatever you say…" Kenta grumbled

"Let's just head back to the main rendezvous point, if there's any more dummy hollow's we'll take care of them on the way." Seigo instructed, Kenta and I both nodded in agreement.

Kenta and Seigo both hopped down from the building, I stood at the edge about to jump off before pausing. Something….it just wasn't right. I had no idea what but I had a bad feeling. Glancing behind me I surveyed the area cautiously, I didn't see a thing.

Shrugging it off I jumped down and joined Kenta and Seigo as we ran back to the rendezvous point, running through the winding roads, our feet thudding against the concrete I felt the bad feeling turn into dread and yet, I still didn't understand why.

"Hey Hotaru why the long face? You aren't upset that I showed you up are you?" Kenta said, looking back at me with a cheeky grin.

I laughed a bit, feeling some dread ebb away "Nah, I just have a feeling…"

Kenta looked at me curiously before Seigo grunted in acknowledgement "So you're feeling it too, huh?"

Now Kenta looked even more confused and I was sure if we weren't running he would've been stomping his feet in irritation like a small child "What feeling?! Guys I'm not following!"

Seigo sighed "I've had a bad feeling for a while now, like somethings going to happen."

Kenta rolled his eyes in response "Oh c'mon Seigo! We have a barrier around the area we'll be fine! Not only that but if real danger appears I'll beat it to a pulp and save the day!"

Kenta's smile was so contagious I couldn't help myself, it was like he filled me with confidence, his smile ebbing away my fears and his words leaving me feeling safe and assured. It was always strange how some people just had this effect on others…

Feeling a new burst of confidence we rounded the corner to find the others had already arrived with the three sixth years at the front.

Seigo hummed from beside me "It looks like everyone's here, we should be leaving soon." I nodded in agreement as the three of us walked closer to the crowd. A shrill scream froze each of us in our tracks, I looked up to see a gigantic hollow with a long claw. Kanisawa was impaled by it, swinging its claw outward it cast Kanisawa aside.

I felt fear grip me. A _real_ hollow was here, it was huge! It killed a _sixth_ year student like it was nothing! I was only a first year!

I watched in horror as Aoba charged at it before being swatted aside, blood spurting from his body. Shūhei turned to us all frantically as he drew his sword "First years get out of here! Run as far as you can!"

Everyone around me was running away, they were all screaming. It hurt my ears, but I couldn't do anything, I was frozen like a block of ice. I felt Seigo's hand shake my shoulder quickly "Hotaru we have to get out of here!"

Kenta stood in front of us in determination "No! we can't run now! Shūhei is on his own against that thing! He can't take it by himself!"

"Do you even realise what you're saying Kenta?! Do you want to die that quickly? Besides Shūhei would've already called for backup by now!" Seigo reasoned, I was still stock still, staring at the large hollow.

"They won't get here in time! What kind of Shinigami would we be if we just ran away?!" Kenta countered before turning around sharply "I'm going for it." He drew his blade and charged as Seigo called for him. I snapped out of my daze in an instant and charged forward after him, my arm outstretched.

Kenta let out a battle cry, Seigo screamed for him to come back, I ran toward Kenta- I didn't even know what I wanted to accomplish in that moment- no, I didn't know what I _hoped_ to accomplish. Right before my eyes the hollow impaled Kenta effortlessly casting him aside as he did Kanisawa.

"KENTAAAAAA!" Seigo screamed as I watched in shock as his body fell, blood pouring out of him, his eyes glazed over and lifeless. I shook like a leaf, all his previous words that gave me hope, that gave me _courage_ were all gone.

"HOTARU LOOK OUT!" My eyes widened as I saw the claw fast approaching, it was all I saw until a back appeared in my vision. I felt myself being pushed back as I fell to the ground I glanced up in minor confusion and shock until Seigo looked back at me.

"Don't let your guard down….okay?" Seigo coughed, blood dripping from his lips. I felt myself shaking even more, I couldn't do this, I _couldn't do this._ This was _nothing_ like the 79th district, _nothing_.

"S-seigo…." I stuttered as I stared up at him.

Seigo coughed out blood, his eyes turning hazy "At least I won't….have to live….without Ken..ta…" he rasped as the hollow finally swung its claw outward, sending him flying.

I bit my lip, my teammates were both _dead_. Now it was just me, the hollow and Shūhei who was injured.

' _What do I do?'_

"Oi Hotaru! Are you going to lay there and cower all day or are you going to help?" Renji called out abrasively, I looked behind me in shock to see Renji, Izuru and Momo standing there determinedly.

"Renji…" I choked, a small sob escaping my lips. In an instant Momo grabbed my forearm gently and pulled me up with concern on her face "Are you okay Hotaru?"

Before I could answer Izuru interrupted "We've got bigger problems to worry about."

I nodded shakily as they all turned back to the hollow, we all rushed forward as its claw split into multiple thinner claws that shot forward toward Hisagi. Drawing my sword quickly I blocked three of the sixteen claws it had split into, holding onto the hilt of my sword with both hands tightly I pushed upwards as I struggled with its strength as did the others.

"What are you all doing here?!" Shūhei questioned in disbelief

Izuru grunted "We just wanted to help sir, sorry to disobey!"

"We came back to save you, so you'll remember to forgive us!" Renji panted.

I along with the others pushed away the claws and outstretched my arms, placing my palms side by side I recited "Ye lord! Mask of blood and flesh, all creation, flutter of wings, ye who bears the name of Man! Inferno and pandemonium, the sea barrier surges, march on to the south! Hadō 33: Shakkahō red flame cannon!"

The four of us finished our incantations as four red orbs shot at the hollow, it screeched in pain as it covered its mask, taking a few steps back.

"Sir I suggest we run!" Izuru called out, they all agreed and ran around the corner.

I felt adrenaline pumping through my veins, my previous shock and grief in the back of my mind as old instincts set back in.

"How in the hell could such a massive hollow sneak up on us like that?!" Renji said lowly as they ran.

"I don't have a clue, it appears it was somehow able to conceal its spiritual pressure!" Shūhei replied.

"There's no chance we can defeat that thing by ourselves! What are we supposed to do now?" I questioned.

"For now we just have to stay alive until the backup from the soul society arrives." He responded as we rounded a corner to a large open area.

' _I have a bad feeling again'_ I thought as we stopped and looked around us.

"What the…?" Izuru muttered.

I bit my lip "Bad feeling confirmed…" I muttered just as countless hollows- _real_ hollows surrounded us, there could have been at least twenty of them.

"How can this be happening?!" Momo said in panic as they all stood in a circle back to back drawing out their swords.

I gripped the hilt of my sword "There's too many of them…" I winced at hearing the defeat in my own voice.

"No way….no…I don't wanna die like this….I don't wanna die at all you guys…" Izuru whimpered, fear evident in his voice.

I felt my vision begin to get blurry as more fear and panic set it, Izuru wasn't helping. The adrenaline hadn't totally worn off but it was certainly less than before, the reality of the situation set it in. Sure, one hollow I felt confident that I could hold it off with these guys help but twenty? I felt powerless, weak. Inferior. So many negative emotions swirled inside me, I had lost hope of surviving this.

Glaring at the hollows in front of me I locked myself in an offensive position, ready to charge when needed. What was I even _thinking?_ I was from district fucking 79! Death was an everyday occurrence it was at every possible turn so _why_ was I so scared? If I was going to die….if I was never going to see my family again then at least I would go down fighting.

Thankfully, it turned out I didn't have to. Just as the hollows began to advance I saw a long sword pierce through the head of the hollow in front of me. I stood in shock as I turned to see Gin Ichimaru, lieutenant of squad five and his captain Sōsuke Aizen approaching.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, we got here as fast as we could." Captain Aizen exclaimed as they approached.

"Captain Aizen...Lieutenant Ichimaru…" Shūhei said in disbelief.

Aizen stopped in front of Momo and placed a hand to her head, his warm and kind brown eyes stared down at her "You've done very well, I'm sure you were scared. We will take over from here, you go get some rest." I watched as the two Shinigami walked past us and took down the hollows effortlessly.

I looked down in shame, I couldn't get to Kenta in time and because of me Seigo died. I always thought I'd be used to seeing death, especially after how I had grown up. I thought it wouldn't faze me at all. I guess I just didn't realise how different the matter was when you knew them, when you knew those people were kind and pure-hearted, that they shared the same goals as you. That as a team, even if you've just met each other you will fight together and protect each other from harm.

And I failed to do that.

I failed.

* * *

 **So that's it for this one! Don't know when I'll upload the next chapters because I'm about to have some busy days ahead of me (and I want to also pay a decent amount of attention to my other Bleach fanfic.)**

 **Fun fact: I was basing this off the anime episode rather than the manga, in the manga they actually go to practice performing Konsō's rather than attacking dummy hollows.**

 **Another fact: When following the anime episode the Kidō they used (Shakkahō red flame cannon) on the wiki page its listed as number 31 but in the anime episode they said number 33 which is Sōkatsui according to the wiki. Kinda strange isn't it?**

 **Also thank you so much for the reviews! They actually** _ **really**_ **motivated me!**

 **Narutofreak10 –** Ahh thank you! I'll try to update as much as I can but things are getting busy lately! And unfortunately she won't meet Tōshirō for some time but that doesn't stop me from referencing (like in this chapter), I'm really eager to bring him into the story too though so bear with me!

 **Lizyeh2000 –** Oh wow thank you!

 **I honestly think I wouldn't have written this chapter as quickly as I did without those reviews!**

 **As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	7. Chapter 6 - As the years pass

**Another chapter uploaded straight after the previous one! Aren't I amazing?**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Bleach, only my OC's**

 **Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 6 – As the years pass**

* * *

I stared numbly out the window as I lay on my bed facing the side, to anyone else I was staring intently outside at the beautiful clear skies and sunny day. But I saw nothing, I heard nothing. Two weeks had passed since that day, since the day I failed, since the day that I realised that death was more complicated when it was someone you knew rather than just the corpse of a stranger who you could steal from.

Every single day since that expedition I had wished I could've changed something, wished I could have been faster, stronger, that I wasn't so scared and weak. And every single day since then, life passed in a blur. Rukia comforted me afterward but soon after that she was unexpectedly adopted into the Kuchiki clan and was scheduled to graduate the academy early this very day. Momo stuck by me with a kind smile that kept reminding me of Seigo, Renji and Izuru both tried to help yet they didn't know what to do. It was frustrating, feeling helpless, being stuck in a fog. Drifting through it as if it would never end, what was even more frustrating was the fact that everyone else around me- everyone else who went on that expedition seemed perfectly fine whereas I lay here, I drifted from my studies, I couldn't focus, I drifted from the world and withdrew into my own little bubble, staring out the very same window day after day. Having the same nightmares, night after night.

I desperately wanted to escape this fog that surrounded me, that suffocated me. However I didn't know how, and if I was being honest I didn't deserve it. I deserved to feel pain and suffering because it was my fault that they died in the first place.

I had visited Rika and Kazu only once, right after the incident as I needed the comfort of my family. They managed to explain why I was so struck by their deaths despite how I grew up, they comforted me and helped me have a greater understanding of it all.

But it wasn't enough.

"You know….we never did come up with a consequence for when someone loses the bet." Rukia whispered from behind me, I blinked, the haze clearing from my eyes. For the first time in that hour I truly saw the clear skies from the window.

"I guess not." I replied in barely above a whisper. I had barely noticed Rukia come in I was too busy being stuck in my own mind.

Rukia sighed "I've packed all my things…I'm being transferred to squad thirteen."

I finally glanced behind me and observed Rukia's face, her eyes were cast down. Letting out a soft sigh of my own I turned my body to face her "Correct me if I'm wrong, but you don't seem all that thrilled about it."

Rukia's eyes snapped up to me in shock, after all it was the first time in two weeks I had actually given a proper response that wasn't whilst I was in a daze. Recovering from her initial surprise she sat on her bed and looked at me in apprehension "I'm just nervous is all. Ever since I got adopted by the Kuchiki's people have been treating me differently, they give me all this respect yet talk about me behind my back. At first it kind of hurt but I soon managed to ignore it and now I couldn't care less. But I'm just nervous about becoming an actual soul reaper without you guys and that my new squad will…treat me differently from normal." She explained.

I nodded my head in understanding "That must be incredibly irritating as well as nerve wracking. I wish you well in the new squad." After pausing for a few moments I mumbled "And I admit…to you winning our bet…I guess…"

Rukia smiled at this, placing a finger to her lips in thought. Before either of us could say anymore there was a knock to the door and a Shinigami stepped in. "Miss Kuchiki, we are ready to go." Rukia nodded and stood up, she inclined her head for me to follow and despite myself I complied. Following her out of the room as she grabbed her stuff we made our way to the front gates of the academy, turning back to me she spoke softly.

"Before I go, I've come up with your punishment for losing the bet."

I quirked a brow at this "And? What do I have to do?"

I watched her in surprise as a genuine smile spread across her face "I want you to do exactly this, from this day forth I want you to work hard to become a Shinigami. I want you to be your old, determined, confident-self again that dedicated her time to her studies and had an avid dream about becoming a hero. And….I want you to forgive yourself."

My eyes widened, I felt something lift off of me as if the small breeze that flew past took it away in the blink of an eye. I bit my lip as a smile crept to my lips "I….I will."

Rukia nodded before turning away. Little did I know I wasn't going to see her for about five years.

In the following days I felt the fog go away, I felt the burden drift into the air. I trained harder, I pushed myself to the limits constantly, I used Seigo and Kenta's deaths to motivate me, to push me even further than before, I crammed everything I could into my brain and during that first year, months later I got a new roommate.

"Ayumi Hamada, I'm your new roommate so get used to it." Said a girl with brown hair tied up in a ponytail with a front fringe and steel grey eyes. She was tall and somewhat muscular, her personality often reminded me of Renji's, and countless times she came across as rude or brash. She was often a loud mouth, she wasn't afraid to speak up and yet she was very smart and strategic however most people didn't see it. If I was being honest with myself she was one of the reasons I was able to escape from the fog. Rukia's 'punishment' for me was enough to keep me going but sometimes you need an extra reminder or an extra push, and Ayumi was just that.

And just like that for the next four years I trained and studied hard, more determined than ever to become stronger, to be able to protect the people I cared for and to not make the same mistake again. Of course in those years I had grown close with Ayumi, she had confessed that she had picked a fight with her roommate and due to the girl being 'tortured' by Ayumi she was removed from that dorm and placed into my own as she was from a wealthy family so they couldn't kick her out without evidence. And throughout those years I grew closer with my fellow classmates, with Ayumi who constantly wanted to spar and who I had to constantly tell to actually do her work (she was in one of the lowest classes academic wise if that told you anything) despite her being so smart she didn't do anything with those brains. With Renji, Izuru and Momo the four of us all became much closer after the incident as well as being in the same class. Renji and I joked and sparred together, Izuru and I often ate together or he helped me with my studies, he and Momo even tried to help Renji and I become better at Kido- of course Renji was a lost cause but I improved. With Momo I often sat with her, we would train together and she would often tell me stories about her childhood friend Tōshirō who she referred to as 'Shiro' most of the time. From what she had told me he sounded like a complete and utter brat.

And as the years past instead of nightmares from the past they turned into dreams, foggy mist surrounding me in the darkness, every step I took ripples upon ripples of water surrounded me and yet, I heard no sound of water, I felt no water, I didn't sink. I only saw the ripples. In the shadows I always saw something, eyes shining through the darkness but unfortunately I couldn't see anything else. Every single time I had this dream, a gruff yet female voice called out, but it was as if it was from ages away when the eyes shining in the darkness were only mere feet away.

And just like that I was starting my sixth and final year at Shin'ō academy, for me it all went by in a blur but they were memories I would always cherish.

Unfortunately, my sixth year at the academy was going to be a little different.

* * *

 **So, this chapter was drastically shorter but I feel it was needed, I don't want to bore you or myself by going through each and every year of the academy. I understand I could have added some particular events during those years but for those who desperately want Tōshirō to enter the story? That would just mean it would be even** _ **longer**_ **before he appears in the story. Although I do try to keep referencing to him when I can~ just for some fun.**

 **As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	8. Chapter 7 - Halfway through

**Hello! It's been a while and I apologise! I finally managed to get around to working on this story again. [Also first update to this story of 2018 woo]**

 **Answers to reviews at the bottom!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my Oc's**

 **Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 7 – Half way through**

* * *

"So _none of you_ know the one who invented the Zanpakutō?" Their teacher stared the entire class down.

Silence.

I saw an irk mark appear on the man's forehead "You're all in your sixth year of the academy! This is ridiculous! Today each and every _one of you_ will be studying this period of history and on Ōetsu Nimaiya, expect a test in the near future. Judging from the last pop quiz I'd suggest you lot study hard or you won't even be _graduating_."

Various groans and whines ran through the class, as usual their teacher was just nit picking- in reality being the advanced class they were doing far better than other classes. My gaze shifted to the window beside me. Soon, I'd be graduating and become a Shinigami, thankfully I'd managed to keep my grades level if not even _slightly_ above average- thanks to Izuru and Momo of course.

Speaking of Momo she'd been absent a lot during lunchtimes these days, always fretting about how 'Shiro' was doing.

Apparently this 'Shiro' kid had joined in their fifth year, yet I'd never seen him once even though I was now in my sixth year and he was in his second. Apparently he was 'impossible to miss', however here I was, having missed him for a year and a half. I wouldn't deny that I was curious, I had gotten quite close with Momo lately and I definitely wanted a chance to meet someone she always spoke of- and so fondly at that.

I cupped my chin in my hand and stared down at my ridiculously large textbook, as always this class was boring and whilst I wasn't amazing at it (not a big fan of history over here.) I could still do it. I stared blankly at the page, not really taking in the words even though I tried. Today all I wanted to do was either relax or spar, absorbing information was just not something on today's list apparently.

I hummed quietly to myself as I looked around the classroom, like previous years I was still in the advanced class, just like Izuru, Renji and Momo. Of course each of them had to be separated due to 'inappropriate and disruptive' behaviour- when really their teacher just had a stick the size of hollow up his ass.

It wasn't long before a bell sounded throughout the halls of the building, causing me to sigh in relief. I stood up swiftly and soon found Renji at my side who yawned loudly and stretched, clutching his books loosely.

"Man that class was a total bore. I better ask Izuru for the notes later." He mused, I chuckled at that. Of course I would be doing the exact same to Momo so it's not like I could say I was any better.

Speaking of Momo….I turned to see her walking out with Izuru before bidding him goodbye and leaving. I felt my interest pique, she couldn't possibly be going off to see that Toshiro kid right after class? Or was it something else?

I felt my curiosity increase as I waved goodbye to Renji and ran off, much to his confusion. I turned the corner and continued to follow Momo. I wasn't sure if I needed to be stealthy or not, she wasn't moving around as if she was doing something illegal so there wasn't much need to be _too_ sneaky about it.

After a bit of following she finally stopped to greet an _incredibly_ short boy with white hair sticking up and large turquoise eyes. I was surprised to find he was shorter than me- something I quite enjoyed. I looked at the boy curiously as Momo and he interacted, if anything he looked like those lost kids you'd find in the middle of a market place- or those kids you pass by in the Rukon district that are really adorable and you kinda just wanna take them home.

…(is that kidnapping?)

I shook the thoughts from my mind and wandered over to the two, I coughed slightly catching their attention. Momo looked surprised whilst Tōshirō looked annoyed already- seriously what had I even done yet?

I waved "Yo, I'm Hotaru Fukuhara. You're the infamous 'Shiro' correct?"

Now _that_ gave him a reason to be annoyed with me, his glare snapped to Momo "What have I told you about calling me Shiro? When you do, _this_ happens you damn bed-wetter."

Momo glanced around frantically, waving her arms in a rapid gesture "S-shiro! I told you not to call me that at school!"

' _Jeez he's one angry kid…'_ I thought exasperatedly as he turned back to me abruptly "My _name_ is Tōshirō Hitsugaya. _Do not_ call me Shiro."

I nodded holding my hands up in a placating gesture "Alright, alright! Got it. Pleasure meeting you…I guess?" I said with a nervous laugh, I take back what I said about the kid lost in the market _and_ the adorable small child. If anything he was incredibly intense, it wasn't just his glaring turquoise orbs but also the atmosphere around him which was very….cold, interestingly enough. Momo didn't seem to have any kind of problem with it though.

Before I could say anymore I felt someone grab my upper arm roughly, causing me to drop my books. I glared at the offender before relaxing slightly.

Ayumi looked irritated "It's break time. You said we were gonna spar but _someone_ hadn't shown up so I had to go looking for that _certain person_."

Oops. I chuckled slightly with a shrug "Sorry I forgot! We can go now if ya want?"

After a few moments Ayumi nodded in satisfaction, letting go of my arm she strode off, presumably to where our previous sparring area was. I sighed heavily and picked up my books, sending Momo and Tōshirō a sheepish smile and a wave.

"I'll see you guys later!" I called back as I ran after Ayumi who would definitely not like to be kept waiting any longer.

"Don't count on it." I distantly heard the voice of the white haired brat and Momo beginning to scold him for his rudeness, I sweatdropped. He was an interesting character that was for sure.

* * *

Soon I found myself outside of the academy building, my books still in hand and my katana on my back as I ran out into the nearby wooded area to meet Ayumi. It was a fairly isolated area with occasionally Renji, Momo, Izuru, Ayumi and myself using it.

I found Ayumi leaning against a tree, her eyes closed and arms crossed as a single finger tapped slowly- signifying her impatience.

I groaned internally, she definitely was going to give me a few bruises for being late. I shrugged to myself, better get it started. I chucked my books to the side and unsheathed my katana, at this Ayumi's grey eyes opened and she grinned.

" _Finally_ , I figured I'd have to wait till I was a captain for you to show up." She said confidently, drawing her own weapon that lay at her waist.

I scoffed, rolling my eyes "You? A _captain_? Please." At my comment she rushed forward, she swung her sword down swiftly. I side stepped as it clashed with the ground.

Hopping back a few steps as she prepared to strike again I brought my blade up, Ayumi's blade clashed against mine, the clang of metal rung in the air.

Ayumi pushed me back with force and swung down, I leapt up, striking downward to which she parried.

I flipped backwards, landing a few feet away.

Ayumi snorted "Is that honestly all you've got? Where's that Kusajishi spirit? You practically emanate bloodlust half the time with your Reiatsu, so _show it to me._ "

I looked at her blankly _'Emanate bloodlust half the time? What is she on about?'_ I couldn't help but think before sighing, it was obvious she was getting impatient. She wanted a real fight.

I thought back to all the times in district 79 when I had watched all the brawls and fights to the death- when _I_ fought to the death. I licked my lips with a grin as a rush began to bubble up inside me. It was a _wonderful_ feeling.

The grin remained on my face as I focused back on Ayumi who was now grinning just like me, in a defensive stance.

In an instant I dashed forward, swinging my blade in a wide arc I struck her right side, catching her by surprise as blood spurted from her wound, she flinched. My grin only widened, seeing the opening I cut her right leg before dashing to the left, narrowly avoiding a quick forward lunge of her sword. I swung my blade upward slicing into her shoulder.

I jumped back as she swung at me viciously, I laughed "You'll never become a captain like _that_." I provoked, my excitement getting the better of me as I dashed forward again, swinging wildly.

This time Ayumi parried, locked in a battle of strength and offensive power, I applied more pressure in response. She suddenly swung her sword back, I fell forward in surprise as she swung her blade down, slashing into my shoulder.

I only grinned.

Placing a hand to the ground as I fell forward I pushed myself up, flinging myself into the air I flipped over Ayumi. She looked back in shock as I once again landed a few feet away.

She then smirked. "Using Reiryoku in your limbs ey?"

I returned the smirk "If ya actually paid attention in class for once maybe you'd know how to accomplish such a feat."

Ayumi glowered at me, an irk mark appearing on her forehead. "You'll regret that you little bitch."

And so the fight continued, our swords clashed, ringing throughout the forest, more cuts and bruises were made, stinging and aching and soon it was no longer lunch time. Eventually the sun began to set before we were finally done, thankfully it being the day that it was they had their last class of the day off- hence the strangely timed sparring session.

"What on earth happened to you two?!" Momo cried as they both soaked in the bathhouse. I eased into the hot water with a contended sigh, feeling my achy and tense muscles finally relax.

I pointed to Ayumi bluntly "It's her fault."

Said girl looked at me incredulously "You were the one who went nuts!"

"You were the one who _asked_ for it!" I snapped back with a huff, crossing my arms childishly.

Momo looked between the two of us, torn in what to do "Well, at least you're both back in one piece and hopefully learnt a few new things!" she finally decided on, it was earnt with grumbles from Ayumi and I- both of us too exhausted to put up any more of a fight.

Soon Ayumi hummed "So it's already almost half way through our sixth year, soon we'll be filling out applications to a squad we'd prefer to be in. There's even a possibility of the captains coming to the academy themselves to suss out the crowd."

I nodded, seeing where she was going with it "Have either of you chosen a specific squad to apply for?"

In mere moments Momo clapped her hands excitedly "I have! I want to be in squad five!" she said enthusiastically, a little _too_ enthusiastically.

Ayumi gave her a blank look "Okay…but why? They ain't nothin' special as far as I'm concerned."

Momo placed a finger to her lips "Well, I've heard it's a very calm and peaceful environment, a lot of them excel in Kidō among other things and of course there's captain Aizen!" she ended in excitement.

"I'm willin to bet it's mostly because of that Aizen guy." Ayumi said dismissively and I snorted, although I'd admit she did seem to have a lot of admiration for the man after he and his lieutenant saved them from that group of hollows a few years back. Whilst I was grateful to him- I couldn't care less about being in his division or not.

Momo protested "That's not just it! Of course he _is_ really strong but he's also really kind so as his subordinate I know he will treat me well."

Before Ayumi could pick on her anymore I stepped in, gesturing to Ayumi "What about you? Any ideas on a squad you'd wanna join?"

A grin overtook her features "Squad eleven. No doubt about it."

Momo smiled nervously whilst I chuckled "I kinda expected that."

Momo turned to me "How about you Hotaru? Have you figured out what squad you want to apply for?"

Ayumi shoved me roughly "Squad eleven of course! Bloodlust all around!" she cheered.

I rolled my eyes in response, too tired to cheer along as I sank deeper into the bath and began to play with my now wet black tresses. I hadn't really thought about it honestly, in fact I'd barely paid any attention to the instructor when he explained the roles of each of the squads.

I sweatdropped, I really needed to listen. I looked to the two expectant faces and shrugged "Dunno, I'll wait for someone to pick me I guess?"

This time Ayumi rolled her eyes exasperatedly whilst Momo only smiled "That's perfectly fine Hotaru! That just means you're adaptable!"

I smiled, Momo always tried to be encouraging or see the positives when possible. Squad five would be a good fit for her, I knew that captain Aizen would take good care of her.

* * *

 **Okay so that's the end of this one, sorry that it's shorter and possibly quite boring but it helps pave a neater path to the next chapter. I hope everyone enjoyed the brief interaction between Hotaru and Tōshirō and I hope that it wasn't too off the mark. (From memory he was quite an angry or rather constantly irritated child.)**

 **Also what did you all think of the sparring scene? I haven't written many so please let me know if you could understand it and if the flow of it was alright.**

 **I also hope I used the terms Reiatsu and Reiryoku right (lordy I had to re-research it all and the differences because I always mix them up even though I** _ **know**_ **they're different ;-; )**

 **Answers to reviews: (If you want the responses to reviews to remain private please let me know)**

 **LadyAmazon:** Thank you for all the reviews! I can't believe I didn't respond sooner haha

 **Amazonannielove:** Oh thank you! I'm sorry for the wait!

 **Kitsuneblackwater + guest:** Sorry for the wait! I hope it doesn't disappoint!

 **GreyMoon . Huntress:** Thank you so much! And yeah keeping the plot following somewhat requires patience which I generally don't have ;-; and here it is! She's met 'Shiro' and given her first impressions! I hope I presented him alright haha. At the academy he's obviously far shorter (he's so tiny!) during the main story however (when the actual bleach timeline begins) Tōshirō is about 4'4 ½ whilst Hotaru will remain 4'2 as she is currently. So yea in summary she is shorter than him!

 **Once again everyone sorry for the wait! The next chapter has also been completed so has the one after that because I went on a writing spree from 1-4 in the morning ;-; So expect those to be uploaded shortly!**

 **As always, Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	9. Chapter 8 - Familial celebrations

**Hello all! This chapter like the previous is also short but I felt that it needed to be. (I've already written another chapter after this which will be uploaded soon so I hope you all enjoy that!)**

 **I hope my writing style hasn't randomly changed at any point? It's hard for me to pick up but I reread chapter 6 and then read 7 and 8 (this one) and it** _ **seemed**_ **pretty much the same to me. I dunno, let me know if it's different.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC's**

 **Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 8 – Familial celebrations**

* * *

I tapped my brush relentlessly on the paper before me as I stared it down. The object of my frustrated gaze was the application form that was to be submitted to your instructor which they will then file to the specific squad you request. Of course there was no guarantee you would get in that squad it was just a way to show your preference. Aside from that in the days following generally captains came to the academy to see certain students in person or see if any specifically caught their eye (or to gather more information than what was on their reports and profiles) if the captains themselves didn't come then it was up to the lieutenants or a chosen representative.

Only problem was, I had no idea which division to put preference to. I'd asked Momo and Izuru to explain the duties of each squad once more, so far the only ones that mildly appealed to me were the sixth, eighth and eleventh squads.

"Having trouble?" Came a voice from behind me, I tilted my head back slightly to see Izuru.

I turned around as much as I could in my chair and sent him a grin "Yeah a little bit, I don't have much preference really. How about you?"

Izuru hummed contemplatively "I was thinking maybe the fifth or fourth division." I looked at him in mild surprise, I was aware that the fifth division were Kidō experts which made sense but the fourth division was certainly a bit of a shock. Not that I could see him as the type to long for battle anyway.

"Well in that case you better shape up your Kidō!" I laughed.

Izuru chuckled "Funny, I was just about to say the same to you."

I deflated as soon as those words left his mouth. I was terrible at Kidō- better than Renji (honestly, _anyone_ could be better than him) but I definitely needed a lot of work in that area.

"Why don't we go to the Kidō practice hall when we have some free time? I could help you shape up on that Shakkahō of yours." Izuru offered.

I nodded to him, the grin reappearing on my face "Awesome! I'd really appreciate that."

After that I turned back to the application paper and just wrote down the eleventh squad, there was a potential to be with Ayumi and a high likelihood of being able to fight. What else would I need?

* * *

I planted my hands on my knees as I huffed. Izuru stood beside me with his arms crossed as he observed the target I _attempted_ to aim for.

"Hmm. Whilst you're better than Renji…you still need a lot of work." He commented, I looked up to him in annoyance.

"No, _really_?" I grumbled sarcastically as I looked to the target in front of me, it was a giant circle, I'd only managed to hit the very corner of it.

"Do I really need to be proficient at this?" I complained as I fell on my behind, placing my arms behind me to support my weight as I leant back. My long hair pooling over my shoulders.

Izuru sighed heavily " _Yes_. Whilst you don't need to know a lot it's incredibly important you know some Kidō- even if the amount is minimal if you can use that small number efficiently it'll help you out a lot in the future."

I whined again and fell on my back, I knew I was being picky and that there was a range of upsides to using Kidō it just wasn't _fun_ it was _boring_. And it was difficult, that too.

"Kidō isn't _that_ bad." Izuru commented as he held out a hand to help me up.

I rolled my eyes, accepting his offer as he helped me stand up "Says the guy who actually likes Kidō _and_ is good at it."

He sighed once more before glancing back to the target "I think we're done for today, you don't want to overdo it."

I jumped up in joy "Hells yeah!" I turned back around swiftly and ran out the practice hall, ignoring Izuru's shouts as I left him to clean up the target. It really didn't take me long to get sick of Kidō.

Entering the dorms I ran up to my dorm room and swung the door open to find Ayumi lounging on her bed lazily, she rolled over to face me as I walked in and sat on my bed.

"Where the hell were you? Class ended ages ago." She questioned.

I fell back onto my pillow, staring at the ceiling. My body ached, you wouldn't think so with Kidō but when it goes wrong…let's just say your body is more prone to injury.

"Izuru was helping me with my Kidō." I answered.

Ayumi scrunched up her face in distaste "Ew, who needs Kidō?"

I chuckled at that.

"Anyway, what're you gonna do about the three day weekend coming up?" Ayumi inquired, a look of curiosity shining in her steel grey eyes.

I looked to her in confusion "There's a three day weekend?"

Ayumi sat up, rolling her eyes " _Yes_. God there were papers everywhere, everyone's talking about it. It seems most people have _extravagant_ plans- mostly the rich brats though." She explained as she fiddled with her hair, taking it out of its ponytail letting her brown locks fall past her shoulders. Flicking the hair tie across the room she fell back on her pillow with a contented sigh.

I nodded; I hadn't seen any papers around surprisingly. Pretty sure if I did I would've ignored it, the last time I picked up one of the flyers around here it read 'lonely souls looking for love.' I swore to never pick up a flyer in the academy again. Especially ones with _questionable_ imagery, how that stuff circulates around the academy for so long I don't know.

Humming to myself I looked out the window briefly, the sky was somewhat cloudy however the birds still chirped loudly and the temperature was still fairly humid outside. "I think I'll go visit my family. I haven't seen Rika and Kazu in a while."

"Fair enough." Ayumi responded before jerking her thumb to the door "We better get to the bathhouse and then head to bed before it gets too late. You know how rowdy some of the girls can get- especially later into the night."

She definitely wasn't wrong, plenty of the girls from their year level loved to drink and stay up- how they maintained their grades at all was a mystery. With a slight nod I got up along with Ayumi and headed for the bathhouse.

* * *

 _Drip._

 _Drop._

 _Drip._

 _Drop._

 _I looked around in surprise, I was here again. I knew I stood atop a lake of some kind but where? It was so dark._

 _I only wanted to turn on the light, I wanted to turn off that ever running faucet that continued to drip every time I found myself in this dream. I wanted to see the body behind those glowing predator eyes in front of me. I wanted to reach out to the being that was stood before me even though I could not see it but every time I reached out my hand it seemed to grow farther away._

 _A distant gruff voice once again called out to me. But like always, I couldn't understand it._

 _The mist thickened around me and I growled in frustration. I was sick of this, it happened every time. Almost every night._

 _This time I lunged forward, my feet made splashing noises as I ran toward the glowing reddish brown eyes._

 _I soon began to fall. I gasped out in shock as I fell into the lake, submerging deep into its waters._

 _My eyes widened, it was thick and red._

 _Blood?_

I gasped and shot up out of bed.

I held a hand to my face, it was drenched in a cold sweat, my hair and clothing stuck to my body, I attempted to peel my hair off of me, lifting my fringe up out of my eyes as I breathed a sigh of relief.

Thank god that dream was over, it was the strangest one yet. If I was right, it was a lake of blood.

…So what was that dripping noise?

What were those eyes that never left me?

There were so many questions in my mind to ponder that I felt a headache begin to form, I clutched it lightly with a groan as I ripped off the covers of my bed and stumbled over to my wardrobe.

Unfortunately I'd have to think on it later, I needed to get ready to go meet Kazu and Rika. Pushing the dream out of my mind I began to change into my regular grey kimono with a dark blue obi. I noticed absentmindedly that Ayumi had already left the room.

I moved to the mirror and began to brush out my slightly knotted hair, it now reached close to my hips. I had thought of cutting it but I knew Rika loved it long, and frankly, I didn't mind it either.

Sighing to myself I grabbed my bag and my katana, leaving the room I walked out of the dorms and made my way out of the academy toward the first district in which Rika and Kazu resided in.

Soon I found myself at their home and what I could rarely call my own home as I didn't have much time to visit anymore. I knocked on the door lightly.

A few moments later the door was thrust open to reveal Rika with a wide smile overtaking her pale features, she enveloped me in a crushing hug.

I laughed slightly "Rika you're crushing me…"

She rolled her eyes in response but eventually let go, over the years Rika had mostly remained the same with her high white ponytail, white lashes and red eyes. She also still wore a pale blue kimono (although this one was newer).

"Come on in, it's definitely been a while! I've already got something planned." She said with a wink and gestured inside. I strode past her to find Kazu sitting lazily at the table.

Kazu himself hadn't changed at all. He still had the same shaggy hair down to his shoulders, reddish brown eyes and a brown kimono. He waved to me nonchalantly as he drank some tea.

"Haven't seen you in a while sis, good to see that you're well." He stated.

I looked between the two of them weirdly "You guys seem oddly laid back..."

Rika shrugged before ushering me to the table, I sat down, placing my things beside me. "Well, times do change. Anyways-" she pulled out a big map from a bag beside her and placed it on the table, shoving Kazu's book off the table much to his annoyance.

She pointed to a red dot on the map "So we're here. And we're going there." Rika explained as she moved her finger to a blue dot that was close to district 5.

I looked at her quizzically "Why? We could just hang out here."

"You might not have hung around here much but we certainly have. Rika wants to go on an 'adventure'- more specifically to a particular inn near the fifth district." Kazu explained, picking his book up from the floor.

I nodded in understanding "Anything special about this inn or nah?"

Rika thought for a moment, looking up to the ceiling briefly before shrugging "It's hard to explain, you'll see when we get there!"

I resisted the urge to smack my palm into my face and groan as I looked to Kazu who looked just as exasperated as me. I turned back to Rika "Well there's no point in arguing on that decision so we might as well head out now."

She nodded and went off to grab her bag, Kazu remained seated drinking his tea before glancing to me. "You know she's gonna want to spend the whole three days with you, right?"

I chuckled "Yeah, I know. We haven't seen each other in a while so I don't blame her."

Kazu remained silent at that. Soon Rika returned with both her own and Kazu's bag, they gave me a few additional traveling essentials and with that we left. It'd been a long time since I had travelled with them, it was nostalgic really.

Of course the main difference was we weren't travelling day and night from the worst district to the best district, things were different now and the area we lived in was _actually_ safe.

Unlike our initial journey, Rika wasn't the quiet one. She decided to chat my ear off inquiring about the knowledge I had gained at the academy and filling me in on her and Kazu's lives whilst I was away. Eventually I decided to just hand her my textbook of 'Advanced history and Shinigami traditions.' (I brought it along specifically to quench her thirst for knowledge- and to make her be quiet.)

After a prolonged silence I looked to the two of them exasperatedly "Soo….are we there yet?"

A long drawn out heavy sigh came from Kazu "Some things never change…"

* * *

"Here it is!" Rika pointed to the inn they'd be staying at.

It was quite well polished on the outside, not too fancy but definitely not shabby. We walked in through the large oaken doors, the inn itself was filled with other souls all drinking and having a laugh. I couldn't blame them, it was a beautiful night. The sky was clear, lanterns lit the streets of this small town that sat on the border of the fifth district. The area itself was quite wooded but was also bustling with souls, even this late into the night many people crowded the streets.

"Is it some kind of special occasion today?" I asked Kazu as Rika went to the front desk.

Kazu shook his head "This town is a little special…it's a very lively area day and night, generally it's the place people come to drink and celebrate. That's why it's so populated and why there's a large number of inns around."

I made an 'ooh' noise as Rika returned and motioned to a door to her left that led upstairs "let's leave our luggage upstairs and then drink to our hearts content!" she said with a wide grin.

The three of us placed our bags in our room for the night and went back downstairs to find a seat, as we seated ourselves Rika who sat on my right turned to me. She pulled out a small object which I stared at curiously.

She held out a black choker with a sapphire gem attached to it "I was going to give this to you after you graduated but…I felt like giving it to you now. I couldn't wait!"

Kazu sighed from across the table, already taking a sip of his sake "I knew you were going to do that."

Rika scratched the back of her head sheepishly as I took the choker and twisted it around in my fingers, it definitely looked finely made. I smiled as I put it on, I clutched it tightly. My chest felt warm.

"Thank you…I love it." I said gratefully.

Rika's grin widened as she cheered and drank, I too had a few drinks whether it was to celebrate being with my family, to our lives and how it'd changed, to me soon becoming a Shinigami I had no idea. All I knew is that I didn't want this to end.

* * *

 **Is it just me or am I getting really bad at naming the chapters?**

 **Believe it or not I actually had to double check whether to use the term flyer or flier (no difference in context, I just used flyer- the British spelling.)**

 **Well, tell me what you guys thought of this chapter! I always love reading reviews, even if I don't update immediately after reading them it always does motivate me (and I really like responding to them…)**

 **As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	10. Chapter 9 - Disaster

**Hello! Another short chapter. I'm not even gonna apologise because this may become a habit (I kinda hope not, I like writing long chapters) but it just felt right to end it where it did.**

 **I was gonna upload this yesterday but ffn was having network issues :/**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything except my OC's**

 **Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 9 – Disaster**

* * *

The cheers put me in a daze, the bright lights and movements made me dizzy. The sake that continued to go down my throat made me nauseous.

I shook my head in an attempt to clear up the dizziness, and yet that did nothing.

Where was I again?

I held a hand to my mouth as I felt bile begin to rise, I stood up abruptly, my limbs wobbly. I distantly heard Rika and Kazu calling out to me but I ignored it, they'd just keep on drinking.

Stumbling out the large oaken doors I veered to the left of the entrance, my vision was dancing as I placed a hand to the wall to support myself.

Once again bile rose up higher and higher in my throat, I let the hand covering my mouth drop as I threw up repeatedly, soon it just became dry heaving as I got all of the alcohol out of my system.

Even so I still felt mildly sick, how Kazu and Rika could do it I would never know.

I felt a large, coarse hand on my forehead making me look up. My vision cleared to see a concerned Kazu- despite drinking the most he seemed absolutely fine.

He held out a glass of water and a napkin, I gladly took it.

"You should know that vertically challenged people like you can't handle much alcohol, _at all_." He advised and I laughed.

"I'll keep that in mind for the future." I replied as I wiped my mouth and gulped down the water greedily.

Leaning against the wall I breathed in deeply, outside where it was cool was much more refreshing than the hot and humid environment that was inside the inn.

I sighed "We'd better get back inside soon, I'll probably retire for the night."

Kazu nodded, although the streets were still brightly lit as if the sun had never set hours and hours ago and there were still numerous people buzzing around the area in both regular and bright coloured clothing observing the stores it still was better to be safe than sorry.

"You taking that katana to bed with you?" he joked, inclining his head toward the sword at my back.

I placed a hand on the hilt in surprise; I'd forgotten to take it off when we went downstairs to go drinking.

I was about to reply when I felt it.

A presence.

No. _Multiple._

My eyes widened and I knew in that moment, Kazu sensed it too.

"Kazu, we need to-!" A hollows screech interrupted me as chaos erupted in the town.

I pulled out my asauchi from its sheath and spun around, desperately trying to locate the sound. It was a hollow- _multiple_ hollows! But how? This was the soul society! Close to district five!

Another hollow's screech from above interrupted my thought process, I froze. In an instant the hollow leapt down, I flipped back on instinct as its body crashed roughly to the ground, collapsing a portion of the inns entrance and front wall. I could already hear the screams from inside, the screams that littered the streets that were already beginning to be soaked in red.

What was I supposed to do? Do I save people? Run? Get my family out of here?

Family.

I stiffened, Kazu. Rika.

"Kazu! Rika!" I cried out, Kazu had disappeared, and Rika was still presumably inside.

I quickly turned my attention back to the hollow that had now leapt in my direction, ready to clamp its white masked jaws around me. I jumped up and slashed down with as much force as I could, to my surprise it worked and the hollow disappeared.

' _These guys are big, but they're also weak_. _'_ I thought to myself shakily.

Quickly scanning the area I tried to reach out to find Kazu's and Rika's Reiatsu- I was still awful at it but if it worked….

I cursed loudly. Nothing. I tried to ignore the bubbling anxiety within me as I gazed around at the horror that was this town's state.

What was once brightly lit and bustling streets now had wrecked houses and debris, bodies and blood spattered across the cold hard ground as well as fires raging and Hollows screeching, standing atop the wrecked houses and running rampant through the streets.

I felt helpless. There were _too many_.

My grip on my asauchi tightened as I spun around just as a hollow jumped at me, I ran forward, slashing at its mask and it's underbelly- killing it.

"First things first…I need to find Kazu and Rika…kill any hollows in sight and save any souls that I can…" I mumbled to myself. I knew the Shinigami would be on their way, it shouldn't take long for them to get here.

I jumped up onto the inn's building, the building was now destroyed and no one was in sight. I looked away from the various dead bodies- no Rika or Kazu in sight. Thankfully.

Leaping down I dashed through the streets, avoiding the various body parts. Normally at a time like this when my blood was roaring in my ears, when I smelt and saw blood, when my fingers tingled from using my blade…normally I'd be excited but I couldn't, not like this. Not when my family could be dead.

I felt dread at the mere thought of their dead bodies.

I shook my head rapidly _'No, I have to remain strong and vigilant.'_

A hollow's cry caught my attention; it was in the next street. My gaze hardened as I hurried around the corner to see a large blue, four legged hollow with leering gold eyes and a large bony white mask. Its arm was held up, in its grasp…

Kazu.

I saw red.

"LET HIM GO!" I screamed, running forward and slashing at its arm. Kazu fell to the floor with a thud. I looked to his body briefly, it looked crumpled. Was he breathing? Was he even alive?

A large hollow hand connected with my side and sent me flying into a nearby building. I cried out as the air left my lungs, I crumpled to the ground, gasping. Black dots in my vision, my eyes wandered back to Kazu. My head spun, was he okay? Was my brother okay?

I stumbled upright and glared heatedly at the hollow. That hit hurt more than I would care to admit.

I prepared to leap up to the hollow but paused as a new figure emerged, slashing its mask swiftly. Said figure landed softly on the ground as the hollow disintegrated. A pink floral kimono billowed in the wind that had begun to pick up, long brown hair in a low ponytail stuck out from a Sugegasa straw hat. I had no idea who he was but I had no time to ponder this.

I rushed toward Kazu, letting my weapon clatter to the ground loudly as I collapsed beside him. I placed a hand on his shoulder- he was breathing.

My heart roared in my ears as I turned him over- he was still _conscious._ I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Kazu!" I cried out, relief washed over me. He looked to me slowly, his eyes dull.

I paused. "Kazu…? You're okay…right?"

Kazu remained silent before speaking up "I'm sorry…Hotaru…"

My eyes widened, I felt my vision begin to blur, my cheeks became wet as tears streamed down my face. He was lying. He was fine. I was fine. Everything was _okay_.

"Kazu stop joking around…it's all okay." I said, more to myself than anything as I clutched his hand tightly, he returned the grip- however much weaker.

I didn't want to see the way his eyes were glazing over, I didn't want to see the way blood had poured from his mouth, or the way his body was obviously crushed and bent out of shape. I didn't want to see the tears in his eyes as he looked at me sadly.

"This'll be the last….time. I don't want to leave you…not yet…I didn't even get to see your dream…come true." He said, his voice broken, his tone mournful.

"W-what're you talking about? It's fine! You'll be fine!" I said frantically, the tears continued to pour from my eyes as I felt the panic set in. My brother wasn't going to die, he couldn't. That means he'd be gone forever.

Gone.

"K-Kazu…" I choked out. I wanted to beg him not to leave and to stay but even I couldn't keep denying it over and over.

"I'm sorry Hotaru…please…take care of yourself okay? Remember…drink responsibly…don't steal and fulfil that dream you always had…for me…okay?" Kazu instructed, his voice getting quieter and quieter.

I nodded multiple times as I cried, I couldn't say anything. The words caught in my throat. I was aware of the man behind me who stood silently, watching the scene unfold.

Soon Kazu's grip on my hand slackened, the light forever leaving his eyes. It took me a few moments to realise he was truly dead.

I felt a hand on my shoulder as I stared down in shock.

He was gone…

What do I do now?

My head snapped up, Rika.

"R-Rika…I have to find Rika! She can't be dead too!" I cried out, clutching my head, my fingers ripping out my hair as my breathing quickened, my heart beat painfully fast in my chest, tears pooled out of my eyes, blurring my vision.

Soon all the voices grew distant, all the screams of the souls, the clashing of swords and the cries of the hollows. They all fell on deaf ears, I barely remembered it. I ran.

I ran. Looking around frantically, stumbling, crying out in a panic. I kept crying Rika's name, I couldn't even hear my own voice. I continued to cry out anyway.

Where was she?

Did I lose my sister too?

I clutched Rika's gift- my choker tightly as I collapsed onto the ground roughly, I wanted to scream, to cry. But I'd already done that. I felt empty as the chaos around me quietened down. Soon I felt big arms envelop me from the front, my vision soon grew dark until everything faded to black.

* * *

 **Well, that's that one.**

 **Sooo lemme know how this chapter made you feel, sad, happy (I** _ **hope**_ **not.) or y'know you just don't care at all. And also if the flow of said chapter was alright.**

 **As always Follow, Favourite and of course Review!**


	11. Chapter 10 - The Aftermath

**Hi everyone! I know it's been a while and I'm sorry about that! I really do enjoy writing this story (probably a bit more than my other ones) I just haven't had much time unfortunately.**

 **In this chapter I tried not to make it rushed but I wanted it to move at a fast enough pace so that y'know, I can eventually properly introduce Tōshirō!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for my OC's!**

 **Enjoy~**

 **Chapter 10 – The aftermath**

* * *

My eyes fluttered open for what must've been the umpteenth time that day. My vision remained blurred, various faces and uniforms loomed over me, other times there was no one.

Where was I?

Finally, my vision cleared up. I stared up at a bland ceiling; to my right was a window, to my left a bedside table. I lay in a bed, my torso covered in bandages. The only thing I wore was white kimono undergarments.

"I see you're finally awake." Said a soft voice, I looked over to see someone- no a _captain_. More specifically Captain Unohana, leader of squad four.

"C-captain Unohana!" I squeaked. Sitting up abruptly, I winced, clutching my side.

"Lay back down, your wounds are still healing. You sustained quite a bit of damage to your ribs." She explained.

I looked at her, brief confusion sweeping over my features. Where did these wounds come from?

That's when it hit me.

When I remembered.

I froze, so many emotions threatened to overwhelm me at that moment. Shame, guilt, sadness, anger, grief but at the same time….I was empty.

I remembered Kazu's body and his last words, I also remembered trying to find Rika but to no avail as I passed out.

"Well, look who woke up." Exclaimed a new voice, my head snapped to the door. Another captain stood there.

The same floral kimono…hat and hair…he was definitely there at the time of the attack. He was Shunsui Kyōraku.

He approached me and placed a warm hand on my head, he looked down sadly "I apologise, I was unable to save him. Nor was I able to save the other one you mentioned."

I looked to him, my lip quivered slightly "So…none of you found Rika..?"

Captain Kyōraku sighed, letting his hand fall from my head to pull down his hat over his eyes "I presume not. We don't really know what this Rika of yours looks like."

I looked down numbly "White hair….red eyes…pale skin and a blue kimono…." I mumbled.

I heard him sigh "We're still doing damage control in the area, so if she's around and still alive, she'll be found soon." I merely nodded in response.

Days past and I remained in the squad four barracks, eventually it wasn't just because of my physical injury. Every night nightmares ensued, sometimes those predator eyes were present looking at me in what I could only assume was mock pity. The dreams of that being and the nightmares eventually intertwined and became a regular occurrence.

Kazu would be dying before me, I'd be trying to stop his death, Hollows would arrive and those eyes would watch me from a distance, I could hear its voice, its tone, but I couldn't hear its words. I knew they wanted me to do something- no they _urged_ me to do something. But I had no clue as to what it was.

During this time where I lay in bed in a once again blank state, as I had in my first year at the academy I had a few people visit me. Renji, Izuru, Momo and Ayumi each came to visit me at one point, sharing their condolences, telling me what I'd missed at the academy or attempting to schedule a sparring match when I got discharged to make me feel better (Ayumi).

I'd also received a visit from Rukia, as expected she was incredibly worried. I could see the grief in her eyes too at the news, it was comforting to have her and the others around I'd say that much.

The last albeit surprising turn of events was captain Kyōraku's second visit to my room.

"So, how're you holding up?" He questioned as he entered the room quietly.

Previously having been staring at my lap I looked up in surprise "Captain Kyōraku?"

"I heard from one of the surviving souls of the attack that you took down a hollow or two, is that correct?" he continued.

I looked to him in confusion. Was I in trouble? I'd hope not, I wasn't sure if there was a law against academy students fighting hollows that happen to appear in the area.

I nodded slowly "Yes….am I in trouble?"

The captain chuckled at that "No, no. In fact it's the opposite. I wanted to recruit you into my squad."

I stared at him blankly "You…what? Why?"

"Because you're such a beautiful young lady! I always need more women in my squad~" he explained, almost dreamily.

Before I could respond to the strange statement someone whacked the captain over the head with a fan. Soon a shorter female with black pinned back hair and flat bangs hanging on the right side of her face appeared, she pushed up her glasses slightly as she approached.

I gulped. Judging from the badge on her left arm she was a lieutenant, most likely from Captain Kyōraku's squad.

"I apologise on behalf of my captain's behaviour. You will find a good portion of the time he is irresponsible and _inappropriate_." She stated stiffly, sending a withering glare to her captain who remained unfazed.

She turned back to me "I am Nanao Ise, lieutenant of squad eight. My captain has spoken of you."

I pointed to myself dubiously "I'm only half way through my sixth year at the academy, _why_ would you want me in your squad?" To me, it didn't make sense. I was the average academy student, only excelling in a few areas; I didn't even know my zanpakutō's name. Nor did I think I was gonna find out anytime soon.

Nanao pushed up her glasses once more "From what the survivor of the attack described, you managed to kill two hollows with ease, you showed skill and remained calm. Those are attributes we want in squad eight."

' _They were just weak…'_ I thought, but nodded anyway as she continued.

"When an academy student shows exceptional skill, they are either given a position prior to graduating and will take on that position once they complete the full six years of the academy. There are also exceptions when a student can be taken out of the academy early for a variety of potential reasons."

"In summary, welcome to squad eight!" Captain Kyōraku said cheerfully. "It's a fun place, we have drinking parties every week~"

Nanao turned sharply to him "We do _not_. Besides, she may be joining our squad but I will make sure she still receives the rest of her sixth year education."

I held back a groan, and here I thought I was getting out of half a year's worth of work. I remained quiet as the two of them somewhat bickered, they were an interesting duo. No doubt I would take the offer- well, it sounded more like an order than anything but I didn't mind.

I could only hope that it would turn out well.

* * *

"We definitely need to work on your Kidō. Your Hakuda is so-so, Hohō is decent. As for your Zanjutsu skills…we will be putting that on hold due to the trauma." Nanao deduced.

I panted slightly, having just completed numerous tests under the supervision of Nanao and her captain who lazed on the terrace near them, they were at the back of the eighth division barracks in the garden.

"Now, now Lil' Nanao no need to be so harsh. For someone just joining the squad her skills are well balanced." Nanao's- no, _my_ captain chastised.

I huffed, wiping the sweat from my cheek "Except for the Kidō. I've never been good at that."

Nanao looked at me critically "Believe me, that will change."

I sweatdropped, she was incredibly strict and serious compared to her captain. Of course that was probably what I needed at this point to keep me on track, physically and mentally. Since joining the eighth squad I found out from Nanao that whilst I was an exception student and was graduated early, there was still a large portion of paper work to go through which meant I wasn't able to go on any missions. Until the paper work was done I'd be stuck continuing with modified versions of what I'd be learning at the academy and further training in Zankensoki. I didn't really mind this routine that had been ongoing for at least a week and a half, it was peaceful. Well, as peaceful as one could be with nightmares every other night. I had inquired about specific tea or sleeping pills from squad four however it had yet to be cleared by Captain Unohana (in terms of appropriate medication and required dosage.)

"That will be all for today, now that I know where you stand we can begin to work on the areas that need improving." Nanao stated and I nodded in response, thanking her and my captain for the experience, I excused myself and went back inside the barracks.

I walked through the barracks to my sleeping quarters, of which I shared with four other people. Generally seated officers up to 12 have groups of their own which they head out on missions with and share sleeping quarters with (with the exception of seated officers 4 and up who get private quarters), the 12 seated officers have smaller groups whilst the officers seated from 13-20 have slightly larger groups and are more likely to have unseated officers in them.

I myself was currently an unseated officer and in a group with a 6th seat (the leader) a 15th and 19th seat as well as one more unseated officer like myself. I had only met them all recently but they were a lively bunch.

The sleeping quarters were generally very large. When you entered there was a main room of two small couches and a table in between. As well as a small desk to the back of the room, to the left was a separate room with two single beds, a desk, wardrobe and a mirror for the female members. Same to the right but for the male members.

Opening the door to my sleeping quarters I found it empty, I walked into the room I shared with one other to find it also empty, much to my disappointment. These days I didn't like being alone, it meant giving my mind the opportunity to wander, to remember. I couldn't think of it now, at this point it was best to ignore the issue altogether, to ignore them as though they were alive and still in district 1, living happily.

They're both fine.

They're both happy.

 _I'm_ fine.

I took a shaky breath, placing a hand to the wall lightly.

My eyes landed on the mirror across from me. The mirror I always kept covered with a cloth.

My eyes widened, my lips quivered, my body shook.

' _As long as I'm around you can't cut your hair!'_

I stumbled over to the floor length mirror, clutching its sides, my breathing ragged.

' _You have to keep it long okay? Sister's orders!'_

"N-no…" I choked. "Go away…."

' _See? Even Kazu likes it long!'_

"GO AWAY!" I screamed desperately, smashing the mirror as hard as I could.

Deep cracks appeared in the mirror, shattering it. I clutched my fist and collapsed to the floor shakily, my breaths still slightly ragged as droplets of blood dripped steadily on the floor.

"This is fine." I told myself, trying to smile.

I picked up a glass shard.

"It's all _fine_."

I grabbed my hair.

I saw my reflection in another shard of glass, bags under my widened despaired grey eyes, pale skin, a shocked and pained expression.

I sliced the glass shard through my hair.

It now hung at my shoulders, uneven and scraggly.

I steadied my breathing, dropping the glass shard.

I sighed in relief, seeing my new reflection I smiled shakily. "There, all better."

* * *

 _Drip_

 _Drop_

 _Drip_

 _Drop_

 _This time, I didn't bother look up. I already knew that sound too well by this point._

"… _.Pathetic."_

 _I then looked up in surprise, I managed to catch the last word of what would've been a longer sentence. Those predator eyes ever shining in the dark looked at me with disgust, distain._

 _I glared._

" _Pathetic?" I echoed in irritation._

" _You'…etter off….thout….azu."_

 _I didn't need to reconstruct the constantly fading and distant voice to know what they meant._

' _ **You're better off without Kazu.'**_

 _I gritted my teeth._

" _Why don't you just show yourself already?! I've been seeing you since my damn first year at the academy! Just who are you?!" I growled._

 _The gruff female voice now resounded all around me, it sounded disappointed and mocking "I thought you were smarter than that." She sighed. "I don't have time for weaklings."_

 _Before I could say anything her voice once again drifted, I could see even in the dark she turned her back from me._

 _Drip._

 _Drop._

I opened my eyes slowly, staring up at a familiar bland ceiling.

I was back in the squad four barracks?

"Hotaru! I'm so glad you're awake!" cried an incredibly relieved voice, I looked to my left to see my only female roommate, Kazue Moriyama.

Large, warm brown eyes stared at me with a mix of worry and relief, her straight and long honey coloured hair was a mess, the bangs framing her face being the only thing kept in shape.

"15th seat Moriyama." I responded as I sat up slowly.

Kazue waved her hands animatedly "I told you to just call me Kazue! And not only that are you okay? What happened? One minute I'm singing, having done all my paperwork for the day and the next I'm in our room with you past out on the floor! The mirror was broken, your hand was bleeding and your hair-!"

I covered her mouth with my bandaged hand, looking at her exasperatedly "Kazue, _please_ be quiet."

She answered with a muffled apology as Captain Unohana walked in.

"Captain Unohana." I greeted, as did Kazue with a muffled voice.

Unohana stared at me and Kazue curiously for a moment, in response I let my hand drop from her mouth. With a kind smile Unohana said "I've arranged the medication you requested which you can take with you when you leave."

Kazue looked to Unohana in surprise "She's being discharged today? We don't even know what happened!"

Captain Unohana looked to me briefly before turning her attention back to Kazue "Captain Kyōraku informed me of the details of the incident, whilst Hotaru is being discharged today from only having a minor injury, I would like to speak with her privately before she departs."

Kazue paused for a few moments. She then shot up, her long hair bouncing as she bowed to squad fours captain "please excuse me!"

Kazue immediately left, closing the door behind her. A few moments of silence passed between us as Unohana chuckled lightly.

"She's a very lively character, isn't she?"

I cracked a small smile at that, nodding in agreement. I didn't dare speak, in fear of interrupting the woman. She might've been very kind but I knew well that she was not to be taken lightly, _especially_ when I was in her care.

"Since the day you woke up after the attack I, and captain Kyōraku have been observing the level of trauma you received from the incident. I requested captain Kyōraku to keep you in sight at all times or to simply keep you busy, however he apparently failed to do so." She continued

I remained silent, I wanted to tell her that it wasn't his fault and that I knew they were monitoring me but the words caught in my throat.

"Currently, your mental state appears to be quite volatile as would be expected. I have a few options for you, however I can guarantee that some of them…will not be favourable."

"Will not…be favourable?" I echoed quietly, looking into her blue eyes.

She nodded "One of the options is to remain here until your full recovery, which will likely take years. There is the original plan to keep you busy, give you medication for sleep and of course suspend the possibility of going on missions until you are deemed mentally stable by both myself and your captain."

"And the last, an option I personally don't agree with….is exposure."

I looked to Unohana in surprise. Exposure? Does she mean…

Unohana nodded "Yes, exposing you to similar elements- a form of facing the issue to nullify the effects on your mental state. Of course this could also backfire and cause more damage. Often this option is combined with the second one as similar occurrences of mental instability have happened before."

I placed a hand to my temple, massaging it gently. Naturally, one would want the fastest treatment possible, which would be the combination of the second and third option. However I was a bigger fan of avoiding my problems until they magically went away.

' _That won't work here.'_ I thought begrudgingly. I knew I wouldn't be choosing the first option, sitting around here for a few years wasn't my cup of tea. The second option whilst sounding the most pleasant would also take quite some time, not only that but the suffering and recovery process would only be more drawn out. I sighed, in reality? It was best to just kick the problem in the nuts and get it over with.

I looked to Unohana and said the words I knew I would probably come to regret.  
"I'll choose the combination of the second…and third option."

* * *

 **Thank you for reading! I hope to start the next one soon when I have time!**

 **Reviews:**

 **GreyMoon Huntress–** No problem! I'm so glad you liked the chapters and that it made you tear up a bit! (I was hoping that it worked with someone ;-; ) and as for Rika that'll remain a secret! (Or y'know, theorise on your own if you wish! Haha) it'll definitely be a plot point though. I hope you liked this update and I'll try to update once more as soon as I can! (I can't guarantee anything though!) And once again thank you! Because your review helped push me to finish up this chapter!

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